Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with avocado

What Is That Thing Stuck To My Orange/Avocado?

DU — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:19:52 -0800

What do you call the dried stem-stump stuck to an orange/lemon/avocado? A coworker called it a "pip" but I said that term referred to the seeds. Wikipedia says that "pip" means any small, countable object and gives the spots on dice as an example. So theoretically, I guess "pip" works. But I think there must be an official name and there's clearly already variation in popular terminology¹.

I'm looking for what you personally call them (and maybe what region you are in?) and what The Botanical Term is.

¹Actually, I don't call them anything other than "dammit get off there so I can cut through the fruit".

Avocado oil for dry skin?

thewalrus — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:50:12 -0800

Dry skin and Avocado oil: My wife has excellent results with with an Avocado oil based product designed to prevent dry and flaking skin on her face during winter. We bought a tiny bottle of it at the cosmetic department of a department store that cost 55 euros. After reading the ingredient list it seems a bit of a ripoff... So we went online and got a half litre size bottle of pure "cosmetic grade" Avocado oil on eBay from a cosmetics/oil seller with hundreds of 100% positive feedback, for less than twenty bucks. The tiny and expensive product is this:

Sans Soucis Deep Moist Depot

Reading the ingredients on the back of the bottle and the marketing copy, it says this:

"Deep Moist Depot’s unique formula allows mineral-rich algae extract and hyaluronic acid to penetrate rapidly into the skin without any added binding agents. Then, Vitamin E protects the skin against free radicals and enhances its ability to store moisture, while an organic silicon compound firms facial contours. Thermal spring water from Baden-Baden and pure avocado oil leave your skin naturally revitalized, soft, and supple"

The Sans Soucis bottle when it is unshaken appears to separate exactly like any oil and water, it's 50% avocado oil and 50% water. The vitamin E is already contained within the avocado oil, so I don't think that was an added ingredient.

If we take 250ml of the big eBay avocado oil, put it in a half empty 500 ml squeeze bottle and add 250 ml of bottled water, then keep it stored in the fridge, will we not have produced effectively the same product? Particularly I am wondering about the "hyaluronic acid". Various sources say that avocado oil is good for up to one year of storage, but any first hand experience on how long it actually lasts (at room temp or in a fridge) would be helpful too.

Choosing one rock-hard avocado over another

sunshinesky — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:48:42 -0800

Choosing from a bin of unripened avocados. I like to pride myself on my fruit and veggie selection skills, but I haven't yet managed to figure out what to look for in unripe avocados. I do know how to choose a nicely ripened one, but my grocer rarely has any softer than a rock.

One recently bought avocado went through all manner of ripening techniques over the course of 2 weeks before it finally began to feel soft. When I opened it to eat, it looked fine, but was still quite stiff, fibrous, even bitter, despite 'feeling' right on the outside. I'm thinking this one was a poor choice from the start, as I've never had to wait that long for one to pretend to ripen.

I am honestly afraid of this happening again. I love avocados and it was a test of my patience to wait so long for that one and be so sorely disappointed. They cost too much for such mistakes!

So, my question: Are there any good markers to look for in an unripened avocado? Bonus points for telling me what to avoid!

Best way to move my avocado plants long distance?

illenion — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:06:56 -0800

How should I prepare my avocado plants for moving across country? I have three avocado plants that I raised from pits and have sentimental value for me, and I would like to bring them with me when I move across country, coast-to-coast, at the end of this year. We will be driving a car full of stuff, and estimate the trip will take a week. How can I best prepare them for this trip? They are currently about 2 feet tall each, not including the pot/root ball, and here's a picture. Should I wrap them carefully in wet burlap and then plastic, and check on them regularly to keep them moist? Space is limited in the car, so I am considering either taking just a cutting from the tops of them, or pruning them back to just stem, preserving some of the lower leaf nodes. Does anyone know if avocados take either of these methods well?

tree in pot in ground

mzurer — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:42:57 -0800

My crazy gardener advised me to cut the bottom off of my avocado tree's pot and put the whole shebang in the ground instead of removing it from the pot. Is he crazy? He usually know what he is talking about, but that seems a little odd to me. He claims it will force the roots down and this will be beneficial for its growth in the long run. Has anyone done something similar when planting a fruit tree?

The pot is pretty big - I moved it from a smaller pot into a ten gallon onee when I bought it because I knew I would not have an opportunity to put in the ground for a while.

How hard is it to graft fruit limbs?

mzurer — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:56:10 -0800

How difficult is it to graft fruit stock onto root stock for the backyard horticulturist? My neighbor has a huge avocado tree, about a third of which overhangs my yard. I am to understand that it doesn't bear too much fruit. I have an acquantaince with an avocado tree that bears tons of delicious fruit every year. I have been considering grafting a few branches from my friend's tree onto the part of my neighbor's tree that is within an arm's reach. Is this remotely feasible for an average gardener? Can you do a graft of only a few branches? Can a mature tree even take a graft?

Avocado oil in non-tiny quantities?

kalessin — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:27:11 -0800

Please help me find a good "bulk" supplier of edible, refined avocado oil. (more inside) My sweetie and I have lately taken to cooking a lot of food at high heat in a Cantonese cast iron wok. This is both for food geek and health reasons. From a food/cooking geekery perspective when using a wok, the idea is to get the heat in the wok and the oil as high as possible to help attain the authentic flavor of Chinese cooking. While we generally use refined peanut oil, refined avocado oil has a much higher smoke point, which roughly translates to being able to cook at higher temperatures.

Now, unfortunately, while I did manage to buy an 8 oz bottle of avocado oil (brand: Spectrum Naturals, from: Whole Foods) recently, and it did demonstrate the proper properties in cooking/eating for the wok cooking, it cost about US$9.00 (Yes, that would be about US$1.10 per ounce).

I am pretty certain I saw some refined, edible avocado oil at some point recently in a half or full gallon container, and that its price was well under US$100 (more like US$60-US$70 for a gallon). Can anyone help me find that in a retail store or online?

Be careful not to confuse edible avocado oil with cosmetic. I understand they're rated and refulated differently, even if they're both refined.

Thanks very much in advance!

What's up with my avocado?

sublivious — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:10:41 -0800

I bought a sandwich that had an avocado with these brown root-like tentacles in the flesh but was otherwise normal looking and tasting. Any idea what that's about? I'd be interested to know if this is a common occurance and the cause. I've never seen anything like it before and I've enjoyed zillions of avocados in my life. There's a photo and a bit more info inside.
I tried to pull one of them out of the flesh but it was really in there! It wouldn't budge before it broke where my fingers gripped it. They look and feel like roots. Unfortunately the avocado wasn't cut by me so I don't know what the rest of it looked like.

All I know is, they're green

konolia — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 12:17:03 -0800

Avocados. What do you all like to do with them BESIDES guacamole?

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?

Avocados!

i_am_joe's_spleen — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 14:37:28 -0800

Avocadofilter! My Dad has a very productive tree and gave some to us. I have 8 that are all ripe at once. Sick of guacamole, tried pasta sauce, had them on toast - what else can you do with them?