We've been a little avocado-happy around here lately, what with the breakfast puddings, our new favorite salad, and even an attempt at avocado ice cream. Needless to say, there have been a lot of avocados floating around the kitchen.
According to Cheryl Sternman Rule of 5 Second Rule, the best place to keep all these avocados is not necessarily on the counter as we've always believed.
Cheryl just returned from a trip to Mexico City where she got to sample all kinds of avocado varieties and delicious dishes made from them. She also learned that avocados actually keep quite well in the fridge!
Refrigeration just halts the ripening process. When anticipating a need for an avocado, you just put the avocados back on the counter to finish ripening. She also says that keeping avocados in a paper bag will speed up the ripening process, just like with other fruits.
While leaving avocados on the counter is still perfectly fine for avocados we'll eat in a day or two, it's great to know that they'll keep for longer when stored in the fridge.
• Read the Article: Aguacates de Mexico from 5 Second Rule
Related: What's the Best Way to Remove the Pit from an Avocado?
(Images: Elizabeth Passarella)
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I usually buy a couple of the 4-packs from Trader Joe's and always keep them in the fridge. They last at least a week or two that way (assuming it takes me that long to eat them).
Life. altering. knowledge. Seriously. I love avocados and am so sad when I don't eat them in time.
I just realized this recently, but was wondering if it was a fluke that my avocados were still good a week later...It's good to have this validated. I'll keep avocados in the fridge from now on!
I've also read that they ripen extra-extra-fast if you put an apple or a banana into the paper bag with the avocado. Supposedly the apple releases these fruit "hormones" that make other things ripen, too.
Have honestly never tried it for avocados, but I've been really careful about plastic bagging and separating apples from other produce since I read that!
The fridge really does almost HALT the ripening process, not just slow it--if you put avocados in the fridge before they are ripe, they will stay hard in there for a loooong time. I like to let mine ripen on the counter and then put them in the fridge so they will be ripe and ready when I need them.
So glad you guys are spreading the word on this! It really changed the way I think about avocados and opens up a lot of possibilities. (I no longer have to buy them with a plan for when to eat/serve them. Now I just buy them every time I go to the supermarket.)
Nice to taste them in Mexico, too, where they're a staple, and everywhere you look.
I do the same as hyzen: let them ripen on the counter/in the pantry and then once they are ready, into the fridge they go!
Yup I always store my avocados in the veggie drawer of my fridge - although in general I eat them up so quickly anyway that they hardly ever get too ripe ;) I just posted my simple guac recipe too! http://www.confessionsofachocoholic.com/veggies/guacamole-and-a-mystery-meet-dinner-next-week
Genius idea. No, really. Now I can use my refrigerator for halting the ripening process for avocadoes as well--not just onions and tomatoes and all the other food I put in there.
Anyway, my concern is getting them to ripen sooner so I can eat it right away. I don't care if avocado doesn't "go" with dinner. In my parents' home growing up, avocado went with everything and anything that was for lunch or dinner. My parents wrap the avocado in newspaper and place it in a dark place to speed up ripening.
We also let them ripen on the counter and then into the fridge--it is so great to be able to manage avocados so that we always have them around.
And I want to say that I love Cheryl from 5 Second Rule. She is hilarious!
We would never refrigerate an avocado unless it was already ripe enough to eat. Refrigerating a freshly picked avocado will cause it NOT to ripen at all. A typical home refrigerator is too cold to "keep" an avocado before it's ripe. See our website for more information about storing avocados. http://www.CaliforniaAvocadosDirect.com
The best way I've found to speed up the ripening process: place in paper bag, place in a warm-ish location. Mine goes on a windowsill that doesn't get direct heat and the bag keeps it out of the light while letting it breathe.
I have an Aerogarden, so when I buy avocados I buy one ripe and ready, and then others of varying less-ripeness. Then I just place them under the growlite of the Aerogarden and ripen them in order.
Works like a charm!
engill, tomatoes release ethylene which is a gas that promotes ripening in other tomatoes/fruits/veggies
In many grocery stores tomatoes are picked green and artificially encouraged to ripen by treatment with ethylene gas after transport.
I've always found that avocados that sat in the fridge and then allowed to ripen on the counter tasted different, a little funky. I'm not so sure I agree with this...it might keep them firm but the taste is totally changed, in my opinion.
That said, avocados don't last long enough to worry about storage in my house.
Thank you for alleviating my avocado anxiety.
Ok Debunking old Wives tales on ripening avocados...!
For the last 2 years, A neighbor of my Moms, who has a huge Fuerte avocado tree, has been kind enough to send me dozen avocados in a priority mail box...This is a REAL care package! These are THE BEST avocados, and you can not buy them in the stores... At least here in Oregon. When they arrived, they were all as hard as a rock! So to help with the ripening, I went with the old Avocado Ripening wives tales... I put 4 in a bowl on the kitchen table, 4 in just a brown paper bag, and the last 4 in a brown bag with an apple, ( this is supposed to release ethylene gas that makes theme ripen quicker). Well for now for the second year in a row, there was no difference in the ripening times. Actually, the ones out in the bowl on the table, were the softest by about a day. Then they were all ripe ready to eat by the next day. I have now repeated this experiment 2 years in a row with the exact same results... We are now happily eating avocados like rich people, as fast as we can! Now I am going to see if another old wives tale of putting them in a refrigerator keeps them from ripening any more!
They are so GOOD!
Im sure the grocery stores store them in there fridges every night,which makes me
wonder.....how many times back and forth in and out of the fridge,can they take before
there potency deminish's.....I'll take the avocado tree plz!!!!
Natalie