Avocados are a staple in many households’ kitchens, but because they have a relatively short shelf life, they need to be properly stored to avoid being wasted.
When left out at room temperature, the fruit ripens quickly and can turn brown and mushy in just a few days.
Experts recommend storing avocados in the refrigerator to help keep them fresher for longer, but households should be wary of doing this at the wrong time.
If you store an avocado in the fridge when it isn’t ripe then you risk compromising its texture and taste. You need to wait until it has ripened – or is very close to being ripe – before you store it.
Nutrition experts at EatingWell explain: “For whole avocados that you’re not ready to eat quite yet, the best place to store them is in the refrigerator. Refrigeration slows down the ripening process.
“It’s best to refrigerate an avocado that is ripe or close to it. If you refrigerate an unripe avocado, it will ripen eventually, but the texture and taste may be compromised.”
If an avocado is ripe, then you should place it in an airtight container uncut, and it should last for around two weeks. If the fruit hasn’t ripened yet, then allow it to ripen naturally at room temperature before moving it to the fridge.
Experts at Fresh Avocados – Love One Today say it takes around five days on average for a firm, green avocado to ripen at room temperature and once it yields to gentle pressure, then this is a sign it’s ready to eat.
Fresh avocados that are almost ripe will feel less firm, be darker in colour and won’t quite yield to gentle pressure. At this stage it is best to wait around one to two days for the fruit to fully ripen or the flesh inside will be quite hard and difficult to mash.
Avocados that are almost black in colour, with only a hint of green, and yield to pressure are the ripest and should be eaten straight away.
The colour can vary depending on the variety you choose, with Fuerte, Ettinger, Reed, and Sharwill avocados staying green when ripe, so it’s best to go by firmness as well as colour to determine if the fruit is ready to eat.
If an avocado feels mushy to the touch and has deep indentations, with darker yellow or brown coloured flesh, then it is overripe and is best avoided.
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