How to choose an avocado How to tell if an avocado is ripe or not

17.12.2015 Vladimir Zuykov Save:

Good evening, dear friends! 2 people have already asked me about avocados. In winter, you want fat and it's not surprising! Therefore, today I will tell you about how to choose a ripe avocado, what to do if you suddenly bought an unripe one. You will also learn how to properly cut this wonderful fruit and eat it.

I think everyone knows what an avocado is and what it looks like. If you don't know, be sure to try this fatty fruit. Although it is quite high-calorie, it is very useful for anyone, even a healthy person. Let's not talk much about the benefits - you yourself will feel it by tasting it. So let's move on to choosing a good avocado.

How to choose a ripe avocado?

I remember the first time I bought an avocado, when I had just become a raw foodist. It was something with something, guys and girls. In general, I felt the fruits of avocados in the supermarket for a long time, some were too soft, others were hard. The soft ones were dark and I didn't like them, so I bought a completely green one. Of course, it didn't taste good.

So that you do not repeat my mistakes, I will give you some tips on how to determine the maturity of an avocado:

1. Ripe fruit is always a little soft. Of course, if it contains dents or is too soft, it has already gone bad or rancid. Don't buy this, waste your money. A good fruit is soft when pressed, with a slight resilience.

2. A good avocado has a slightly darkened skin. If the skin is green or too dark, the fruit is immature or overripe, respectively. This is what a normally ripe fruit looks like:

3. The stone should not hang out much in the fruit. If you shake an avocado, and the stone inside is shaking, it has already deteriorated inside. The stone should be slightly separated from the pulp. You will immediately feel it, having gained a little experience in practice.

4. Is it possible to tear off the stem without effort? In a ripe fruit, the stalk (stalk) is easily separated. If there is a yellowish-green color underneath, the avocado is ripe. If the color is brown or darker, the avocado is overripe or completely rotten from the inside. Yes, and by the smell at the place where the cutting is attached, you will understand that this is rot. In this case, refuse the purchase and feel free to write "wish" in the book of complaints of the supermarket.

5. And last but not least, the taste of avocado. If, when eating the fruit, the flesh is hard and bitter like an oak, the fruit is immature. The pulp should be the consistency of the most expensive butter and just a little, but sweetish.

By the way, avocados are green and brown on the outside. I like green ones more, and you, dear reader, which ones and why?

What to do if you bought an unripe avocado?

If you suddenly messed up and bought an unripe fruit, do not be discouraged - the money was not thrown away in vain. The order of your actions is as follows:

take a piece of paper and wrap the fruit in it;
put the wrapped fruit in a dark place at room temperature for 5-7 days;
to speed up the ripening of an avocado, wrap it in a paper bag along with a banana;
Check the avocado periodically for ripeness.

Ripe avocado after that can be consumed within two weeks somewhere. Then, as you already understood, it begins to deteriorate from the inside. Signs of spoilage are dark spots inside and an unpleasant taste of the fruit.

How to cut an avocado and eat it?

When a ripe avocado is selected, that's not all! You need to cut the fruit, and then properly prepare it for eating. You already know how to carve a pumpkin, but the process is different for avocados.

1. The fruit must be washed well. Preferably warm water with a soft brush. Such a procedure is necessary because avocados are brought from distant countries, many people have touched it, there is dust and microbes on it. After washing, wipe the fruit with a soft cloth.

2. Cut the avocado lengthwise with a knife, starting from the handle, leading along the contour. No need to try to cut completely, there is a large bone inside the fruit. Run the knife along the outline until you return to the handle on the other side. Now cut the two halves in half with a knife or your hands.

3. Separate the bone from the fetus by prying it with a knife. The bone must be thrown away, do not try to eat it, it is poisonous. If the shell of the stone remains on the pulp, it must be picked up and also removed.

Congratulations, the avocado is split! Now you need to eat it. There are a couple of options here:

If you want to eat an avocado without anything, i.e. mono, take a teaspoon and scrape out the pulp, eating it right away. By the way, the peel is not eaten.
If you want to use an avocado for salads and other dishes, then you must first remove the peel from the fruit, and then cut it into small pieces. It should be consumed immediately, because. the flesh quickly deteriorates and darkens in the air.

As for raw food salads with avocado, I want to say separately. This is a tin, guys, as they say because of the habits of food addiction, that the stomach then hurts all day. On the blog, I talk a lot about food compatibility, so I recommend making avocado salads also compatible.

That's all for me by choice, butchering and eating a fatty fruit - avocado. If you still have questions, ask them in the comments under the article, I will be happy to tell you what is not clear. By the way, what other fruits would you like to know about choosing? Give me a hint, I will write an article on the fruits you are interested in.

Z.Y. Subscribe to blog updates– there is still a lot of interesting things ahead!

Avocado is a fruit that is widely used among Europeans. In addition to being good to eat raw, avocados are added to various salads, first courses, and sauces. In addition to the ability to give food a special taste, it is also a low-calorie product.

There are quite a lot of varieties of this tropical inhabitant - at least 400. However, on the market we can buy nothing at all - three of them. Each of these varieties has its own taste, but it is important that the selected fruit is also suitable for creating simple or complex culinary masterpieces.

You can buy in stores one of the following varieties.

Californian. Its peel is brownish in color, and the flesh is very loose and juicy. Most often, this type is used in cooking for making soups or spreading on a piece of bread. You can eat a raw fruit, removing the skin from it and removing the bone. Californian avocados can be found in stores regardless of the time of year. But there is a chance to buy fruits with dents that are invisible under the dark skin.
Florida. With a smooth skin of a shade of light green and a fairly high density of pulp. This variety is ideal in cooking for making rolls and salads, which are so popular today. It is the most delicious, but because of the thin skin, it must be peeled with a knife. A large bone inside the fruit makes the fruit heavier in weight. The low calorie content of the Florida avocado has made it popular with nutritionists.
Pinkerton. Dark green skin and numerous pimples are the distinguishing features of this variety. A small stone adds pulp to the fruit. The dense peel is easily removed without peeling the fruit with a knife, while it is impossible to damage the ripe pulp. The Pinkerton variety is ideal for making sauces for rolls.

It is not enough to decide on a suitable fruit variety, you need to know how to choose the right avocado so that the fruit turns out to be ripe and tasty. When choosing an avocado, you need to thoroughly study the fruit before buying.

If, when pressed, the surface of the fruit remains unchanged, namely, solid, then the avocado is not ripe. On the contrary, too loose, soft peel indicates the overripeness of the fruit or the initial stage of its decay.

You need to buy the fruit, when pressed, a small depression remains, disappearing after a while. The surface of a ripe and high-quality avocado should be free of cracks, scratches and other damage.

The color of the fruit is not an indicator of its ripeness, since a different variety has its own specific shade. Only knowing the distinctive features of all types of avocados, it is possible to accurately determine the maturity of the fruit by color.

If, after buying the fruit, doubts about its ripeness have not yet dissipated, you can consider a trace from the handle, tearing it away from the main part.

brown shade- confirmation of overripe fruit.
yellow green color and the firmness of the pulp indicate the unripeness of the avocado.
Bright shade of green coupled with a soft fruit and protruding juice confirms the ripeness of the fruit and its quality.

The exotic fruit avocado is recognized as the most nutritious fruit, for which he was honored with a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. It contains so many vitamins and minerals that it has become referred to as a super food. But they fell in love with the overseas fruit not only for its benefits, but also for its unique taste and aroma. To some it resembles nuts, to others spicy herbs, to others it resembles pine needles. If you haven't tried avocado yet, you should definitely do so.

How to choose a really ripe fruit in order to feel the whole rich palette of taste. Consider the main features that distinguish a really ripe fruit, as well as other nuances of choosing an avocado.

Peculiarities

This exotic fruit, which grows on Perseus americana trees, can look different: have an oval, spherical or pear-shaped shape. The shades of the peel are different and depend on the place of growth: from pale green to almost black. In the section, a stone is visible, which can occupy about half of the entire fruit, and light yellow pulp of an oily texture.

There are three groups into which all avocados are divided: Mexican, Guatemalan, West Indian. Of the 400 varieties of this exotic fruit, only three varieties are usually found on the shelves of our country: "California", "Florida" and "Pinkerton". The first one represents the Guatemalan group. These are the same almost black Haas avocados with very soft and oily contents.

In addition to being used as a sandwich butter on its own, Haas works well in sauces, soups, and smoothies. As a rule, the fruits of this variety go on sale hard, otherwise they will quickly deteriorate.

"Haas"

"Florida" variety or "Hall" refers to the West Indian group. It often rains in its homeland, so such fruits have a fresher, sweeter taste, and the pulp is more watery. Smooth, light green, they are difficult to peel, have a medium-sized kernel, and the percentage of pulp in them is quite high. Hall's pulp does not fall apart when cut, so it is great for making rolls and salads. They are usually sold in winter.

"Pinkerton" in its properties is a cross between the other two varieties. Soups, smoothies, desserts are prepared from it. To some, its taste resembles meat, which is why it has gained popularity among vegetarians. The fruit is used instead of meat in various dishes. Important advantages of Pinkerton are its small bone and ease of cleaning; you can remove the peel from a ripe fruit with your hands.

"Pinkerton"

"Floridian"

How to choose?

As you have already learned, the choice of avocados largely depends on what kind of dish you want to cook from it. Different varieties have different properties. Now let's decide how to understand when buying a ripe fruit in front of us or not.

The first thing to do is to press on the skin of the fruit. It should shrink a little, and then return to its original shape. If the fruit is unripe, then when pressed, the peel does not bend - it will need to be held for several days until ripening. On overripe fruits, on the contrary, dents remain.

If you shake the fruit, you can hear the sound from the bone. If you didn’t hear anything like that, it means that the fruit is still too unripe or of poor quality.
We determine the quality of the fruit in appearance. Examine the skin of the "alligator pear". It should have a uniform color without spots and dots. External damage is also undesirable.

Remember these simple rules - with the help of them you will choose only the most delicious avocados.

Finding a ripe, but not yet spoiled avocado is a great success. Most often, unripe specimens are on the shelves, so sellers insure themselves against losses, because ripe fruits quickly deteriorate. At home, they need to be kept in a cool place for a couple of days to let them ripen.

How ripe the fruit is in front of you will tell the pulp under the handle. Cut it off and look at its color. If the flesh inside is dark, then it is overripe, if there is black inside, it has deteriorated, if it is bright green, it has not ripened. The best color option is green with brown streaks.

Many do not try to check the condition of the fetus when they buy it, and even when they begin to clean it. The fact that the fruit is unripe becomes clear only in the process of eating. Too hard pulp and its bitter taste indicate that the fruit clearly has not reached the desired condition.

If the fruit looks elongated in place of the stalk, then it has ripened on the tree, in natural conditions, and will be very good. Eat it right away before it goes bad, and keep only unripe fruit for storage.

Here are a few more tricks that alligator pear lovers should know.

When you see that the fruit should lie down for another day or two, but you want to eat or cook it right now, put it in the oven for a few minutes. So the pulp will become softer and tastier. Before that, cut it into large pieces, sprinkle with lemon so that it does not darken and salt.
If you have a night to ripen, then there is such a simple way: put the avocado in a paper bag along with bananas. Apples and pears are also suitable. It is believed that they can accelerate maturation, since they release a gas - ethylene.

How to store chopped fruit. Place the pieces in the refrigerator in an airtight container with half an onion to help preserve freshness and color. You can also rub them with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. This will extend the life of the slices for at least a day. It is important not to store them in bowls of water - this will lead to rapid spoilage.
Your avocado is overripe and no longer edible. Don't rush to throw it away. From the pulp you can make an excellent hair mask. Gather it up and distribute it through your hair with a sparse comb. After that, wash your hair thoroughly with shampoo.

What variety is on the diet?

For fans of a healthy lifestyle and even vegetarians, avocados are a valuable product. Even though it is a fruit, it contains a lot of protein. If we talk about people on a diet, then the overseas fruit becomes one of the products of choice for them. After all, adhering to a modest diet, they often receive less vitamins and nutrients.

Haas and Pinkerton are the most high-calorie - their nutritional value can reach 380 kcal per 100 grams of product. Despite the fact that all varieties of avocados have a low glycemic index (10 units), such a calorie content will not bring you closer to your goal - a lean body. Their Florida counterparts are best suited for dietary nutrition. Watery, tender and sweetish, they perfectly quench thirst and saturate the body with vitamins and microelements.

How to clean?

Usually avocados are cut lengthwise into two parts and the halves are turned in the opposite direction. After that, the bone is immediately removed from it, since it contains a lot of toxins and, when interacting with air, they are actively released into the pulp of the fetus. A ripe specimen can be eaten directly from the resulting "boats" with a teaspoon.

Also, a ripe fruit can be peeled like this: make incisions on the halves that reach the peel, but do not pierce it through. After that, the halves are easily turned inside out, and the pulp is peeled off into a plate.

Unripe fruits, especially the Florida variety, cannot be peeled in this way - a potato peeler will help in the fight against a dense, stubborn peel. After this procedure, you can cut the fruit into pieces and use for cooking.

See the following video for how to peel and cut an avocado.

Recipes

Everyone has already heard about cold and warm salads with this exotic product. We bring to your attention a variant of a vegetarian olivier, unusual in content and design, which is served directly in avocado halves. It will help diversify your healthy menu and will come in handy during fasting, because it does not contain any meat or seafood. For its preparation, it is better to choose the "Florida" avocado.

Vegan Olivier

Ingredients:

potatoes - 4 pcs.;
carrots - 2 pcs.;
pickled cucumbers - 2 pcs.;
avocado - 2 pcs. (one for the sauce);
canned peas - 100 g;
onions - 1 pc.;
apple - 1 pc.;
salt and herbs to taste;
lemon juice - 1 tbsp. l.;
vegetable oil - 100 ml.

Finely chop boiled potatoes, carrots, as well as cucumber, onion and avocado. We cut the apple very finely. Sprinkle fruit with lemon juice to prevent browning. Mix them in a bowl and add peas. Now let's prepare the sauce.

After cutting the second avocado in half, remove all the pulp from it with a spoon, without damaging the skin. Put it in a blender, add salt and lemon juice, you can sweeten it with sugar a little and beat. Now add vegetable oil and repeat the procedure. Combine the ingredients with the resulting sauce and put the salad in the "boats" of the peel of the fruit.

Guacamole

Speaking of avocado dishes, one cannot ignore the sauce recipe, which is so popular in the homeland of this fruit - in Mexico. This guacamole is versatile and varied in composition. It is not difficult to prepare it, it is enough to stock up on ripe fruits. Guacamole is eaten with tortillas (corn tortillas), chips, crackers. In addition, it is an unusual side dish for meat and fish, sauce for mashed potatoes and pasta.

Ingredients:

olive oil - 5 tbsp. l.;
chili pepper - 2 pcs.;
avocado - 6 pcs.;
spices - to taste;
shallots - 2 pcs.;
lime - 2 pcs.;
cilantro - 2 bunches.

Divide the avocado into two halves and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. Beat with a mixer until puree is formed. Remove the seeds from the chile and chop with a knife. Also finely chop the onion and herbs. Pour the lime juice into the resulting mass and combine it with olive oil and mix well.

An original, exquisite and beautiful appetizer - julienne in avocado. You can’t call this a dietary dish, but it is a great option for holidays and special occasions. You won't need much time to prepare it, but it will surely impress your household or guests.

Julienne with mushrooms and avocado

Ingredients:

avocado - 1 pc.;
champignons - 200 g;
onion - 1 pc.;
cream 20% - 150 ml;
grated cheese and spices to taste.

Cut the fruit of medium ripeness into two "boats" and remove the core. Carefully scoop out the pulp with a small knife or spoon and mash lightly. Fry the onion, mushrooms and avocado contents in oil for 5 minutes, pour over the cream. Salt and pepper, leave the mass to languish over low heat for about 5 minutes.

It remains to put it all in halves, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 180 degrees. In 10 minutes, the exotic julienne will be ready.

Fat Burning Cocktail

It is very sweet but low in calories. All thanks to strawberries and honey - they make this drink as appetizing as a dessert. To keep slim, drink it instead of breakfast every morning.

Whatever your usual diet, exotic avocado will definitely help you to add variety to it. It can be light snacks, nutritious drinks and complex gastronomic masterpieces worthy of a restaurant menu. Choose the fruits of a suitable variety and degree of maturity, and feel free to start experimenting.

In modern collections of culinary recipes, recipes are often found in which the main ingredient is avocado. And everything is so beautifully painted that even now take it and cook it, if it weren’t for the “but”. For some reason, they do not write how to choose a ripe avocado in these books. But in vain, because this fruit is exotic for our latitudes and not everyone knows how it should look when ripe.

What should be a ripe avocado fruit?

Let's start choosing an avocado with a visual inspection. We carefully examine the fruit for dents, cracks, dark spots and other defects. We pay attention to the color of the peel, usually fruits with a darker color, more ripe. But do not forget about the variety of varieties, the color of the peel of an avocado can vary from dark green to brown. If you see several varieties of avocados on the counter and find it difficult to choose, you should not take the largest fruit. Avocados of some varieties (by the way, their peel is dark green in color) are distinguished by a rather large bone. And choosing such a large fruit, you will get much less pulp than if you chose a smaller avocado variety. But it is obvious that it is impossible to choose a ripe avocado fruit, focusing only on how it looks, so let's move on to the next step.
Lightly press on the fruit if the fruit bends slightly under the fingers. But it quickly restores its shape, as if springy, then this avocado is ripe. If, after pressing, the fruit does not restore its shape for a long time, then this indicates its overripeness. You can risk acquiring such a fruit only if you are going to put it into action as soon as you bring it home. Why take the risk? Because there is a high probability that such a fruit will be rotten inside. Well, if, pressing on the fruit, you did not find any reaction on his part - the fruit is hard, does not spring under your fingers, then you have an unripe avocado in front of you. Of course, you can buy it, but only if you want to enjoy its taste 2-4 days after purchase. That is how long it will take to ripen at home.
The pit will also help us determine the ripeness of an avocado. No, it does not need to be removed directly in the store and subjected to a thorough inspection. You just need to gently shake the fruit near your ears. Did you hear the bone tapping lightly? Okay, that's a ripe avocado. If the bone remains deaf to your efforts, then this fruit is still green, unripe.
You can also determine the ripeness of an avocado by tearing off its stem. If the place under it is brown, then you have an overripe fruit in your hands. The yellow-green color, coupled with the firmness of the fruit, indicates the immaturity of the avocado. Well, if the color of the trace is green and bright, and even the juice appears when pressed lightly, then this fruit is ripe.

How to store avocados?

Ripe avocados can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-5 days. You just need to make sure that this fruit lies away from bananas and apples. The top shelf of the refrigerator compartment is best suited for storing avocados, provided that the fruit does not come into contact with the back wall of the refrigerator - it will freeze.

We figured out how to choose the right avocado, but what to do if you only brought it home unripe (all fruits, as one, were tough) fruit? You will have to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200bbiting the fruit immediately and leave it to ripen. To do this, the fruit must be put in a paper bag or wrapped in paper towels and stored at room temperature, in a dark place, for example, under the bed. Depending on the initial ripeness of the fruit, its ripening will take from 2 to 10 days. True, the process can be accelerated by placing bananas or apples in a bag of avocados. The ethylene gas that these fruits emit will help avocados ripen faster. In both cases, just remember to check how your avocado is doing, otherwise you risk missing the moment of maturity and getting a rotten fruit.

Tropical fruit captivates users with its novelty. Often, after a purchase, consumers think about what to do with it, how to eat it. But even before that, at the time of shopping, they ask themselves how to choose a ripe avocado in the store? There are parameters by which the suitability of a product is determined. We will cover them in our materials so that there is not a single question left, and you do not have to be disappointed in the purchase.

What does an avocado look like

Avocado is an exotic fruit, fruit, has a green peel with tubercles. Color varies in any direction: from light to dark. Inside is a large bone surrounded by oily pulp. Only the pulp is eaten; the pit cannot be eaten. The seed contains a large amount of toxic substances. They buy the fruit for making salads, first courses, mashed potatoes, sandwich mixes and other recipes. This suggests that it is not sweet, which is why it is often called a vegetable.

Ripeness parameters

Before buying, you need to know everything about the proposed product. Variety, country of importer, degree of maturity. If you cannot figure it out on your own, ask sales assistants, although the variety, date of import, country of importation are indicated on the price tag. It is important to know the fact that the benefits of avocados directly depend on ripeness.

By grade

The following varieties are imported to Russia for sale.

Florida. Fruits with dense pulp, thin bright green skin. Due to the fact that the insides are quite elastic, it is difficult to determine the ripeness when pressed. On sale on the Russian counter, they fall from November to May. Even if you feel resilient, do not worry. This avocado is a great ingredient for salads.
California. The outer coloration is more brown. Ripeness is easily determined, just press it with your finger or shake it, you will hear the sound of the stone inside. It is used for pastes, purees due to the excellent softness of the pulp. On sale all year round.
Pinkerton. Its thick rind often makes it difficult to determine ripeness. On it are small pimples than on the first. The outer color is almost blackish. The pit is small, so shaking won't give you ripeness results.

Important! If it was not possible to determine the ripeness by belonging to the variety, do not despair. Let it be unripe than overripe, because at home at room temperature the desired condition is quickly achieved.

According to external characteristics

Choosing the right exotic is not difficult, just follow simple recommendations:

Do an inspection first. Look at the peel, it should not have cracks, dents, diaper rash, rot. The darker the color, the riper the fruit. This indicator will not give an accurate definition of ripeness, since it is influenced by belonging to the variety.
In the store, you are allowed to touch the fruit with your hands. If you click on it, then a ripe avocado is when the dent returns to its former shape. The hole remained indented - the fruit is overripe; not formed at all - immature. In any case, all forms are applicable. For unripe, you need to wait 3 - 5 days, for overripe, it is preferable to use immediately after purchase.
You can determine the maturity by the bone. If you shake an avocado, the ripe fruit will make a thud. This means that the seed of the fruit is ripe and easily separated inside the valves. This did not happen, the avocado is not ripe.

In any case, the choice has been made, and you, hoping for your success, purchase the goods.

Determination of ripeness at home

After the avocado is brought home, continue checking. Cut off the stem. In place of the cut, the trace looks like:

too wet, brownish - overripe;
dry, yellow or green - unripe;
moist, bright green - ripe and tasty.

In the process of preparing various recipes, its condition is also determined by the consistency of the pulp. If it is tender, oily, easily smeared on bread, the right fruit has come across.

Important! Ripe salad is not very suitable, as its pulp, at best, will look like a dressing, and not a separate ingredient. In this case, choose a slightly unripe avocado for salad, as it is easy to cut into any portioned pieces.

The choice is made, you have a good, ripe fruit. If you do not use it immediately, the pulp becomes dark in color, to avoid this, spread the cut with lemon, put it away for storage.

What to do if the avocado is not ripe? Tip from experienced housewives: wrap the fruit in a newspaper, put an apple and bananas next to it. The maturation process will be accelerated twice.

These simple tips will help you choose the right avocado so that it is tasty, juicy, and tender. These indicators depend on the degree of maturation. Keep them in mind when you make a purchase, not when you bring the product home. After all, the fruit may be too soft and quickly deteriorate. And about how it is eaten, we will talk in another article.