Comments on: Tough Avocado

Question: Tough Avocado

tangerine — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:20:19 -0800

What can I do with an (open) unripe avocado?

A few minutes ago, making a salad, I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I cut open a hard, unyielding, positively crunchy avocado.

Is there anything I can now do with it, or have I wasted a perfectly good fruit?

By: stray

stray — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:22:47 -0800

I JUST did the same thing myself. I wrapped it in cellophane and threw it in the fridge, but I've no idea if it can be recovered. Blast.

By: jessica

jessica — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:31:59 -0800

save the pit to keep it from turning brown. place it in a brown paper bag with some bananas.

By: amro

amro — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:56:13 -0800

I JUST did the same thing myself. I wrapped it in cellophane and threw it in the fridge, but I've no idea if it can be recovered. Blast.

Whoa. Me three. Thanks, jessica.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:26:09 -0800

Ah! the fruit of the ahuacacuahatl (testicle tree). With an unripe avocado you can make a Cheese and Vege Sandwich or Green Enchiladas with Crabmeat.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:30:39 -0800

Sorry that's ahuacatl.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:58:52 -0800

Spread a little mayonnaise on the cut sides, and glue it back together. Then you do the paper bag trick with a banana. Perfectly ripe avocado in a day or so.

By: Dasein

Dasein — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 21:43:27 -0800

I'm pretty sure it will ripen if you throw it in the fridge in cellophane.

By: faceonmars

faceonmars — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:33:15 -0800

When I worked in a restaurant, we force ripened avocados by putting them on top of the dishwasher. I don't know if it was the heat or the humidity or both, but it worked. Note that this was an industrial dishwasher, not a home dishwasher.

As for cut avocados, we just threw them away.

By: missbossy

missbossy — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 02:03:08 -0800

I'm with Jessica. Put it in a paper bag with a ripe banana. You don't need to save the pit but dip the exposed flesh in lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

Thanks for the recipes tellurian. Fab.

By: Savvas

Savvas — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 04:12:50 -0800

What does an avocado cost, eighty cents? Wrap it up and put it in the fridge, and if it doesn't last until you next need it let me know and I'll paypal you the price of a new one.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:54:53 -0800

The pit trick doesn't really work, compared to a real solution like lemon juice or vitamin C.

It won't ripen in the fridge... it'll just get gross.

Wrap in plastic or glue together, and put in a paper bag.

By: mrmojoflying

mrmojoflying — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 06:00:18 -0800

Remove the seed and throw the pulp away. Stick three toothpicks into the seed along the center plain at equal distances from each other. Place avocado seed in a glass of water. Place the glass in a well-lit window sill. Once the avocado seed as sprouted a taproot and shoot, plant in small pot. Voila -- you have made an avocado tree.

By: penchant

penchant — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:23:34 -0800

I've heard that microwaving an unripe avocado will soften the flesh a bit. Oh, here is something: "To soften an underripe, hard avocado: Microwave at medium (50% power) for 30 to 45 seconds, rotating halfway through; let stand for 3 minutes. The avocado won't be or taste ripe, but it will be softer."

Yeah, maybe that's not what you want.

By: yankeefog

yankeefog — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:27:37 -0800

Just to follow up a bit on the pit/no-pit debate: I read an article by somebody who had experimented with this very issue, by comparing how long it took cut avocados to go bad, with and without the pits.

His conclusion was that exposing the inside flesh of the avocado to air made it go bad. If you kept the pit in, it covered up a small part of the flesh, and therefore helped a little bit in slowing the avocados decay. However, he found that it was much more effective to cover up all the exposed flesh with plastic. (This is what rxrfrx suggested, but I'm just offering some experimental backup for that.)

By: deadfather

deadfather — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:44:52 -0800

What does an avocado cost, eighty cents? Wrap it up and put it in the fridge, and if it doesn't last until you next need it let me know and I'll paypal you the price of a new one.

Yes, anytime you run into a problem, do not seek knowledge. Simply draw the balance from Savvas' bank account and move on.

Personally, I've found that the lemon juice trick isn't a long-term solution.

By: mdn

mdn — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 09:52:08 -0800

eighty cents? I'm jealous. they're generally $2 in manhattan.
If the outside of the skin goes brown, you can just cut that off, anyway - it's just dried out, basically. The rest of the fruit is still fine.

By: anonymoose

anonymoose — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:33:31 -0800

Alton brown recently did a show on avocados.

He confirmed what yankeefrog said about the pit - it doesn't help, except to cover up a little bit from air.

He also pointed out that sticking it in the fridge completely stops the ripening process. So if you want it to ripen, keep it out of the fridge. Now, once it's ripe, you can stick it in the fridge, and it won't spoil for a week.

Woot!

By: Savvas

Savvas — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:06:00 -0800

Yes, anytime you run into a problem, do not seek knowledge. Simply draw the balance from Savvas' bank account and move on.

This is great. You are great.

By: tangerine

tangerine — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 21:03:07 -0800

Thank you all. I just took the avocado out of its brown paper nest. I sliced off tiny dried-out slivers from the exposed edges, and the rest was perfect and delicious!