Beware: A Watermelon Can Explode From Heat

So… you can add exploding and foaming watermelons to your list of things to worry about this summer. 

After seeing an increase in reports of kitchen detonations featuring the delicious fruit, our friends at Today.com decided to conduct a little investigation. As it turns out, yes, exploding watermelons are a thing. 

Keith Schneider, Ph.D, professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Florida, told the outlet that he’s heard about foaming and/or exploding watermelons before.

“This is probably due to the heat,” Schneider explained. “The fruit, if slightly damaged, can begin fermenting. If enough fermentation occurs, which produces gas, enough internal pressure may build up for the watermelon to crack or pop.” 

“It’s the same process that happens in beer and wine making,” he continued. “The offshoot of this process is CO2 gas. The thing that puts the bubbles in your beer.”

Sometimes this causes foam to start bubbling out from its bottom. In other, more mild cases, the watermelon might crack open with a pop when you begin to cut into it. 

If you have a whole, uncut watermelon, it’s advised that you store it in the refrigerator. As a rule, if your watermelon begins producing any sort of foam, do not eat it.

“The watermelon is undergoing decay, so it's best to bring it back to the store and get a replacement or just toss it,” Schneider told Today. 

And when in doubt, he added, you can rely on your nose to tell you whether or not it’s safe to eat.

“Basically, our noses are pretty good at telling us what is safe to eat and if a fruit smells bad, it’s rotting. Trust your nose,” Schneider said.