How to Pick the Perfect Avocado

If you can believe it, this avocado is one month old! The flesh of the fruit is still perfectly ripe because I knew how to pick the perfect avocado from my local grocery store and how to store it properly when I got home. Do you like avocados? Chances are, if you’re reading this post, you probably like them a little bit.

The main questions I get asked about avocados, which I will answer in this blog post, include:

• How do I pick the perfect avocado?
• Should I be washing my avocados?
• How can I store cut avocados?

What to Do With Avocados

I love avocados. If you follow me on Instagram, you may know that I like to eat them as avocado toast and with tuna, parmesan cheese, and a variety of spices. A few of my other favorite ways to enjoy them are in tortilla soup, salads, tacos, and even protein shakes. Yes, protein shakes! They give the shakes a creamy texture, like ice cream, and make me feel fuller for longer. I also use them in my Mexican Quinoa recipe. They are so versatile and so good for you!

So many sources, both official and personal, rave about the nutritional value and health benefits of avocados. They are high in monounsaturated fat (aka healthy fat), high in fiber, and also contain so many important nutrients that many people do not get enough of.

Did you know avocados have more potassium than bananas? I could go on and on about the virtues of avocados, but let’s just sum it up and say they are amazingly powerful little fruits that pack quite a nutritious punch.

I used to buy them fully ripened the day I needed them, or would purchase unripe avocados and wait a few days for them to ripen just to avoid having to go to the store. Now, we only go to the grocery store every three weeks and I buy them in bulk. By washing them The Cross Legacy way, they last about a month in the fridge.

How to Pick the Perfect Avocado

So how do you pick the perfect avocado? If you’re looking for an avocado you want to eat right away, you want to look for one with medium green skin. This means it is at its peak ripeness. Bright green skin means it is not ripe yet. Dark green/almost black avocado skin means the fruit is overripe.

As far as the feel, you do not want it to be hard. Hard avocados are not yet ripe. On the other hand, it shouldn’t be squishy either. You want it to have a little give while still being firm, like how it feels when you apply gentle pressure while squeezing your thumb and pointer finger together.

Put your thumb and pointer finger together and press them against each other. That is what an ideal avocado should feel like when you gently squeeze it. Another good sign that it is ripe is when the nub at the end falls off and it is bright green underneath.

If you purchase avocados that are not ripe yet, you can leave them on the kitchen counter for a couple of days to speed up the ripening process. Place your avocados in the crisper drawer with lemons or any other citrus fruit when they reach the perfect ripeness.

Produce Buddies

I have always stored my avocados in a drawer next to my lemons. It turns out that they help each other last longer. I won’t get into the science behind this here, but unlike lemons, apples and bananas do not mix well with avocados. They speed up the ripening process. If you don’t need to ripen your avocados, don’t store them next to these fruits. If you would like to know more of the science behind this, look up ethylene gas and how it affects fruit.

Buying Avocados in Bulk

I try to find a bag of organic avocados that are around the same stage of ripeness. If that is not possible and you get a mixed bag, you can leave the unripe avocados on the kitchen counter to ripen, or keep them in the fridge (which slows the ripening process), until you are getting close to using them.

Yes, You Should Be Washing Your Avocados

My “secret elixir” for washing avocados is actually quite simple and easy on the budget. It’s composed of two ingredients: cool water and 5% distilled white vinegar.

I use this solution to wash all my produce. I use 1/4 cup of vinegar and 10 cups of cold water in a large bowl.

Before you wash your avocados, remove the stickers from the avocado skins. Then, add the whole avocado to the vinegar bath and set a timer for 2 minutes, no longer. Rinse them off and let them sit on a towel at room temperature to dry. Store them according to ripeness. Remember, the fridge slows the ripening process.

How to Store a Cut Avocado

Can you store cut avocados? Yes, you can, I do it all the time! When you cut an avocado and only need to use half, grab a small mason jar and stick the rest of the avocado, with seed and skin intact, into the jar. I recommend these mason jars for storing cut avocados.

There is no need to use a bit of lemon juice to keep it from browning. You can store a cut avocado for about a week by putting it in an airtight jar. A pint-sized, wide-mouth mason jar works best for storing the remaining half.

That’s it! Now you know how to pick the perfect avocado for every avocado situation you find yourself in. Whether you need a ripe avocado to use immediately, or just stocking up for the month, you know what to do. I hope you enjoy having healthy, delicious avocados in your home for a long time.

PS. If you’ve heard about storing avocados in water, please don’t. Check out this blog post about the FDA Debunking this method of storing avocados.

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Sources

Medical News Today

Healthline

Live Strong

University of Maine