Supermarket shoppers buying avocados have been given a five-day warning to ensure the fruit is perfectly ripe. Assessing the ripeness of fruit just by looking at its exterior can be hit and miss, particularly with avocados, so instead shoppers are urged to apply a strict timing rule to their purchases.
According to experts at Fresh Avocados – Love One Today, you should always buy an avocado five days in advance if you want it for a specific occasion or event, and it should be green in colour and feel firm to the touch. This is because it takes around five days on average for firm or green avocados to ripen at room temperature, so by making your purchase five days in advance, this should guarantee it will be fully ripe and ready to eat in time for your event.
The nutrition website says: “Unripe, firm green avocados can be purchased four to five days ahead of an event. Ripe fresh avocados that yield to gentle pressure should be eaten within a day or two.
“For events that are four to five days out, purchase firm avocados instead. Unripe, firm or green fruit can take four to five days to ripen at room temperature, perfect for celebrations that are a few days out.
“Just be careful to watch the fruit to make sure the temperature in your kitchen does not cause them to ripen too quickly. If they begin to yield to gentle pressure, place them in the refrigerator to slow the ripening process.”
You should be able to tell when a fresh avocado is almost ripe by its colour and how firm it is. If it’s turning darker but won’t yield to gentle pressure then it’s not quite ready to eat yet, so it’s best to wait one to two days to allow it to fully ripen or the flesh inside will be hard and difficult to mash.
When avocados are almost black with just a hint of green, and will yield to pressure, then this is when they are at their ripest and should be eaten right away.
Of course, the colour of the fruit can vary depending on the variety you choose so bear this in mind before eating. For example, Fuerte, Ettinger, Reed, and Sharwill avocados stay 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 has dark yellow or brown coloured flesh, with deep indentations and feels mushy instead of firm, then this is a sign the fruit is overripe and best avoided.
