Choosing a ripe avocado can be a dare. It can take a few hours from when this fruit is hard until it becomes totally soft. Is there a way to make it mature to prevent it from going bad?
Depending on how we want to use the avocado, we will check which stage of ripeness is the best. If the fruit is not ripe enough, we will never be able to peel or crush it. However, too much ripeness brings a bitter taste and floury texture.
Stages of a ripe avocado
It can be hard to tell when an avocado is ripe because it goes from hard to too soft very quickly. A good rule of thumb is to look at the skin . If it’s very bright green and firm to the touch, it’s probably not ripe yet. However, if the skin is blackish in color and lightly pressing on the outside leaves a deep indentation, the fruit is overripe.
A ripe avocado should have almost black skin and be a bit firm but also a bit flexible, like the area of the hand just below where the thumb connects to the palm. Another way to check for ripeness is to remove the small remnant of the stem at the top. If the color you see under the stem is smooth, bright green, the fruit is ready to eat. If it’s brown, it’s either overripe or not yet ripe.
Hard, bright green avocados are 4-7 days from ripe. The bright green ones that are very hard when patted are not yet ripe and will take 4 days to 1 week before they are ready to eat. Don’t even try to eat them, as they will be tough and tasteless.
The ones that are very dark with green flecks are ready. If we eat avocados right away, we will look for those that are dark green, almost black, that are firm with a slight flex when squeezed. The inside of these will be bright green against the skin and creamy on the inside, and will easily come off the bone.
Blacks with mottled skin are past their prime. These will have dry, wrinkled skin that is soft to the touch. The interior usually has brown spots on the fruit and will taste bitter. There is no point in trying to save them, we just have to throw them away.
How to know if an avocado is ripe?
If under the knobby stem it is green, the avocado is ready to open, but if it is brown, we will leave it. Like many fruits and vegetables, we need to know if an avocado is ripe, but visual identification can also help.
- We’ll take a look at its color. A mature one will be very dark with green flecks.
- We will squeeze gently and feel a little soft.
- We’ll take a look at the brown bump on the stem and pull it off. If the stem comes off easily and looks green underneath, the avocado is ripe and ready to eat.
- We’ll check under the stem, if it’s brown, the avocado is probably overripe and could have dark spots on the inside.
- If the stem is hard and won’t budge, it’s not ready yet.
How to ripen avocados?
The easiest way to ripen avocados is to leave them at room temperature for a few days to ripen naturally. The greener ones can last 3-5 days before turning perfect, while the darker skinned ones mature faster.
- To quickly ripen an avocado on the countertop, place it in a bowl or paper bag with an apple or banana. Bananas, kiwi, apples and avocados produce ethene gas which, when placed next to hard fruit, softens it. This natural gas breaks down the inner cell walls and converts the starches into sugar, ripening the fruit naturally.
- To make the avocado ripen in 1 or 2 days, we will place it in a paper bag with one or two bananas. This method concentrates the gas that surrounds the fruit but allows the fruit to breathe. We will avoid the use of plastic bags that suffocate the fruit. This method can also be done with stone fruits, melons, etc.
- We’ll put it in the fridge once it’s ripe. If we can’t eat it once it’s ripe, we’ll keep it cold to slow down the ripening process. Uncut avocados should last between one and three days in the refrigerator.
Tips to do it fast
There are those who believe that avocados can be ripened quickly with two tricks: the oven and the microwave.
- In the microwave : we will cut the avocado in half and remove the bone. Then we will wrap each half in plastic wrap. We will cook in the microwave at high temperature for two minutes and then place the avocados wrapped in cold water to stop the cooking.
- In the oven : We will wrap the avocado in aluminum foil and place it in an oven at 100ºC for 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how hard the avocado is and the power of the oven.
When we no longer want to use them, we will keep the avocados cut in half in the refrigerator for one or two days at most. If we wrap it tightly in the skin and with the bone, it lasts longer. We can put the two halves together and then wrap them well with plastic wrap. This prevents air from leaking in to oxidize the fruit and hopefully it won’t discolor. If we do, we’ll cut off the golden portion and hope it’s green underneath.
How to prevent it from ripening?
While it can be difficult to tell exactly how ripe an avocado is, it’s easier to prevent it from ripening than it is to keep a ripe one intact rather than spoil. When we buy avocados in the store and realize that they have not yet ripened, we can put the avocado in the refrigerator to delay its ripening for about two or three days.
Once we have left it in the refrigerator for a while, we will take it out and wait about a day for it to ripen perfectly. We can control it periodically by testing its firmness and observing the skin under the stem. But we must not miss that window, because once an avocado ripens, there is no going back.
If it’s already ripe, putting it in the fridge won’t help much. Basically, we will be abandoning a ripe avocado so that it ripens more slowly. The refrigerator is best used as a slow-ripening device only for fruit that has not yet reached peak ripeness.
