Your choice of fruit should be determined by when you want to use it. If you plan to eat your avocado right away, select a fruit that’s slightly soft to the touch but still firm. On many occasions the skin darkens as the fruit matures, particularly with Hass avocados. Some avocados can ripen green, so it’s best to use physical means of testing for ripeness as opposed to color. If you wiggle the stem on a perfectly ripe avocado, it will pop out. Be gentle, though, as you don’t want to accidentally bruise the fruit and make it go to waste. If you’re planning on eating your avocado in 2 to 3 days, look for one that’s a little firmer. If you’re able to move the stem ever so slightly upon examination, that means the avocado is near perfect ripeness and will last a couple of days at home in your fruit bowl. Brighter, harder avocados are less mature and will take longer to ripen—around a week. You can buy them for future use and accelerate the ripening process by putting them in a paper bag (add a banana for even quicker results).
Overripe avocados yield to any touch. They can still be eaten, but they’re not optimal by this point. We’d recommend putting them in smoothies or using them for natural beauty products as described below. While usually you should store avocados at room temperature, putting them in the fridge at this stage or slightly before will extend their life span. We recommend using a sharp knife to cut the fruit in half lengthwise, cutting around rather than through the pit. You’ll then have two halves you can gently twist apart. Remove the pit with a spoon or your hand, then scoop out each avocado half by inserting a spoon between the skin and the flesh. For diced avocado, cut a cross-hatch in the flesh and scoop it out with a spoon. Like many fruits, cut avocados experience enzymatic browning as they come into contact with the air. To prevent this, simply squeeze some lemon or lime juice, or vinegar over the exposed bits of flesh. Avocados are extremely nutritious. In addition to nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, they also contain healthy Omega-3 fats. Because many nutrients are fat soluble, eating avocados also unlocks our bodies’ ability to absorb healthy elements from other food, especially those that are high in betacarotene, like carrots, squash, and broccoli. Avocados are great in homemade, natural beauty products. Use them as part of a skincare regimen (they do wonders mashed up as a simple face mask), or even on your hair and scalp. We don’t have any recipes for beauty in this book, but you can look at our website, Instagram, and Facebook for more information. So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!
TIPS & TRICKS
Since avocados ripen after harvesting, it’s important to check your avocado before buying it.
INTRODUCTION
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