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We Love a Melon Baller, and Not Just for Melons

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A person scooping out balls of watermelon from a watermelon. The small watermelon balls are placed in a small light blue bowl to the right.
Photo: Marilyn Ong
Marilyn Ong

By Marilyn Ong

Marilyn Ong is an editor covering kitchen gear. She has taste-tested more than 350 items, from hot pot bases to hard seltzers.

My three kids—ages 11, 8, and 6—have fiendish appetites for fresh watermelon. Until recently, whenever summer hit, my husband and I felt like we were spending way too much time standing at the kitchen counter, knife in hand and juice dripping onto our toes, endlessly cubing the fruit.

I was tempted to hand the knife over to my oldest kiddo, but while he’s pretty good at chopping some things, a rolling seedless behemoth can be challenging, even for adults. So one night, I broke down and ordered a melon baller.

Most melon ballers work fine, but this two-headed one gives you a couple sizes to work with and a soft-cushioned handle that’s easy to grip.

At first I felt sheepish. Haven’t we all been taught to avoid unitaskers? But once I saw how I could just split open a melon and let my kids ball and devour it on their own (which they did, repeatedly), it has become one of my most-prized possessions. I’ve also found it’s a lot more versatile than its name suggests.

We haven’t tested a lineup of melon ballers, but I chose the OXO model because it’s a trusted brand, the handle looked svelte, and I liked the two scoop sizes. We’ve now used it for over five years, and I have zero regrets. Its edges have stayed sharp, its handle is comfortable to hold (for small hands, too), and both scoop sizes come in handy regularly.

Even if all my melon baller did was ball melons, I’d be grateful. Apart from giving me time to nap in the hammock while my kids (safely) decimate their favorite fruit, it also inspires them to volunteer to prep something like this melon and cucumber salad for a dinner party—the little orbs make a simple dish look and feel extra special.

But it’s also a great tool for other summer produce. A shallow nip using the smaller scoop effortlessly hulls strawberries. The same motion using the larger end de-stems tomatoes, and you can use it on a cut tomato to scoop out seeds.

Kitchen editor Gabriella Gershenson uses a melon baller to hollow out kousa squash every summer for a Lebanese stuffed-zucchini recipe. (She uses a Norpro melon baller, which works great too.)

And not to sound like Greg Focker, but you can ball anything (video) with a melon baller. With some small caveats, of course. Large, smooth-flesh fruit like watermelon, cantaloupes, honeydew, or even papaya usually works well. But if you don’t mind some cute half-moon shapes, you can also dig into smaller produce like cucumber, avocado, or mango. More fibrous fruits like pineapple could work, too (video), but your mileage may vary depending on the fruit’s ripeness and character.

In many of these cases, using a melon baller can save you from pulling out a knife and cutting board. Just a few little globes can top a salad, whimsy up a dessert, or garnish a cocktail.

When we go apple picking every October and come home with bags upon bags of the fruit, we like to make apple galette.

I learned from Deb Perelman’s recipe that you can use a melon baller to stem and core your apples. It was a revelation, and it makes the prep go so much faster. This works great on pears, too.

I’ve found other uses throughout the year, too. If you don’t have a cookie scoop (or even if you do), a melon baller can portion out cookie dough or form mini meatballs. I’ve also used it for cute little ice cream scoops, when my kids ask for dessert but I’m tempering the sugar load before bed. One blog suggested using the tool to ball butter (though I haven’t because I’m not fancy like that).

The OXO Melon Baller pops right into the dishwasher. Mine has held up great through many uses and many trips through the wash cycle (though it’s also easy to wash by hand). The edges haven’t dulled, and the grip is still in great shape.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my kids want some watermelon, so this is my chance to take a nap.

This article was edited by Annemarie Conte and Marguerite Preston.

Meet your guide

Marilyn Ong

Marilyn Ong is a supervising editor for Wirecutter’s kitchen team, covering everything from ice cream makers and Instant Pots to toasters and trash cans. Prior to this, she was an arts and then restaurants editor in Beijing, and she also took time away from blinking cursors to be a caretaker for her three young kids. Cooking for her family gave her a healthy obsession with finding the best affordable tools for the kitchen—but when she’s cooking for herself, all she needs is instant ramen and an egg.

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