Shopping, Selecting and Storing Avocados

Avocado is the fruit of a tree found natively in South Central Mexico, which means that avocados are exclusively available for cultivation in tropical and Mediterranean environments.  Sadly, this means many of us won’t be able to pick fresh avocados at our local farmer’s market, unless we happen to live in warmer year-round climates.  That being said, it feels like avocado season never ends since this fruit is available year-round in the produce section of the supermarket.  In actuality, Californian avocados are in season from spring through summer into early fall, with the peak season between May and August, while Florida avocados are available in the summer through winter months.  The peak season for Mexican avocados is November through to April, but their season essentially lasts all year long, since their trees bloom and produce fruit four times per year!  But just in case they aren’t available, Peru grows avocados from April to September and Columbia and Chile avocado season goes from September to June.  All this means that we have access to eat fresh avocados all year long, though they may have to travel thousands of miles to get to our plates but if you don’t want to buy fresh, frozen avocados are now commonly available in most grocery stores and are a great for use in baby food, guacamole, and smoothies. 

Like bananas, avocados are climacteric fruit (try saying that 3 times fast!), which means they don’t actually ripen on the tree but only after harvesting.  Interested in learning how to choose a ripe avocado?  “It’s not that hard!”  (See what I did there?  Did you catch the joke?)  When shopping, selecting the perfect avocado depends on when you plan to eat it – ultimately that’s the key to choosing the optimal stage of ripeness.  The best way to tell if avocados are perfectly ripe and ready for immediate use is to gently squeeze the fruit in the palm of your hand.  Ripe, ready-to-eat fruit will be firm but will yield with gentle pressure whereas underripe fruit will feel rock hard.  If it feels mushy, it’s too ripe and best avoided.  Also, avoid any fruit with dents or dark blemishes.

The usual avocados available for purchase in stores are Haas/Hass avocados.  When harvested the outer peel is a bold green, which turns progressively darker to an almost purplish black as the avocado ripens.  Bright green, firm avocados will ripen in 4-5 days while firm, dark green avocados will ripen in 1-2 days.  However, it’s important to remember that some varieties of avocados retain their light-green color even when ripe so your best bet is to rely on the squeezing approach when choosing a “good avocado”.  If you don’t plan on using your avocados immediately, choose harder, unripe avocados.

To ripen avocados, simply store whole avocados on your counter or in a fruit basket (they are a fruit after all!).  If you want to speed up the ripening process, store them in a brown paper bag at room temperature.  If you want to accelerate the process even further include an apple in the bag as it gives off ethylene gas, a natural hormone that promotes ripening.  Yes, this really does work!

Once an avocado is perfectly ripe, you can store it in the fridge in your vegetable crisper.  It will typically keep for 5-7 days, where it’s ready to use in all your favorite avocado recipes, from tacos to avocado toast and beyond!