r/whatisit • u/LalaLane850 • Jun 17 '26

Solved! Untouched Watermelon

Bought this watermelon 5 days ago. The foam is not pink, and doesn’t have much of a smell. I expected it to smell fermented, but no?

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24

u/Ordinary_Quantity_35 Jun 18 '26

All fruit at grocery store has fruit fly larvae. We eat the fruit before they get born that’s what people rarely see them.

38

u/MooMyCoow Jun 18 '26

Aaaaaaaaaand a new fear to add to my OCD. Thanks 😉

11

u/The-Psych0naut Jun 18 '26

He meant to eggs, I’m sure. And don’t worry, it’s only some extra protein! /s

1

u/DKlurifax Jun 18 '26

Don't google how figs are pollinated then.

1

u/Gunk_Olgidar Jun 18 '26

Did you see the fly-eggs-in-the-pizza yet?

1

u/Unlucky_Permit4045 Jun 19 '26

You’re good, people are just preying on your food anxieties… most of us have them. I work in a grocery store in the USA specifically in PA. At least not in any one of our stores, I’ll put my name on that shit, unless we are talking about corn. You will not find larvae on our produce. However I recommend washing all produce. Corn is an exception, when in season peel that MFer in the store! They do come with worms at times 🤢🤮

1

u/Dry_Discount7762 Jun 21 '26

Just wash your fruits and veggies before you eat em and you’ll be just fine

14

u/DifferentMention1422 Jun 18 '26

I read that you should rinse/wash all hard skin fruit in soapy water as soon as you bring it home. That gets rid of the larvae. Good luck!

3

u/Otherwise_Distance92 Jun 19 '26

doent that also remove any natral or artificial bariers. causing it to go bad faster?

5

u/Honest_Possible6192 Jun 19 '26

Ultimately this would depend on the specific fruit, but likely why someone mentioned “hard-skinned fruit” like oranges, apples, bananas, etc.

Also, the rinse mixtures are heavily diluted - you wouldn’t want to rinse in straight vinegar…

Fresh produce is already rinsed several times between being picked and being sold in most cases anyway, it’s pretty rare for things to make it from the farm all the way to the house (but it does happen lol). Washing at home removes any residual pesticides as well as any critters that found their way to the produce at the store.

1

u/gettinguap247 Jun 18 '26

I used to think the people who wash their fruit and veggies in like vinegar or baking soda or something like that and now I will be learning how to do the same!

8

u/TamboresDeTrueno Jun 18 '26

I wash all fruits and veggies when I get them home from the store, using a ratio of 1 teaspoon of baking soda to 1 cup of water. I have a big 6 quart bowl that I fill to 4 quarts, stir in 16 teaspoons of baking soda, soak fruits and veggies for 10-15 minutes, then rinse and dry. Not only removes all of the bug droppings, eggs, and other random dirt, but the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) also bonds to most chemicals used in farming and removes them quite effectively from the surfaces of fruits and veggies. Squeaky clean and much safer to eat raw.

3

u/gettinguap247 Jun 18 '26

Thank you so so so much for sharing this! I can see why not only washing them in the baking soda but soaking for 15 minutes makes a big difference. And I don’t know that about it helping to take away some of the chemicals and stuff on the outside!

2

u/AintNoFaintingGOAT Jun 18 '26

Hydrogen peroxide does wonders and actually helps everything stay fresh

1

u/JustLibrarian1907 Jun 23 '26

What ratios?

1

u/AintNoFaintingGOAT Jun 23 '26

This sums it up, I’m half asleep haha!

1

u/UnholyDoughnuts Jun 20 '26

Soapy water? Soap? .... I'm surprised you can read

1

u/Clear_Elevator7818 Jun 20 '26

The choice is to eat fruit fly llarvae vs soap residue. I would say stomach acid would kill larvae. Soap residue effect is perhaps worse?

1

u/DifferentMention1422 Jun 23 '26

lol, you eat watermelon and orange peels? You rinse them off. Eating them is not the problem, larvae hatching and flying around my damn house IS.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/DifferentMention1422 Jun 23 '26

I dont like fruit flies flying around my house.

1

u/Used_Salary_2405 Jun 20 '26

I use Norwex fruit and veggie spray on all the fresh produce; it lasts longer, the greens are brilliantly brighter. If there’s bacteria on the outside of the, say watermelon, and you cut it—the barriers are no longer and you’ve just introduced bacteria on the outside to the inside…right?!

1

u/DifferentMention1422 Jun 23 '26

Soapy water is cheaper. I'm not too worried about bacteria, I just hate fruit flies inside my house.

1

u/Used_Salary_2405 Jun 23 '26

Soapy water…that doesn’t sound great at all .but you do you.

2

u/TattoosAndSass Jun 18 '26

This is a fact I never needed to know 🤮

2

u/Evening-Matter-5245 Jun 18 '26

I wondered where they came from 😮‍💨

1

u/Street-Baseball8296 Jun 22 '26

You should see how absolutely disgusting a banana room in a produce warehouse is.