How to Choose a Good Avocado

If you love guacampe sauce or like crispy toast served with delicious slices of avocado, you know what a delicious avocado is. It probably won’t be easy choosing a good avocado when you’re at the store or farmer’s market, but once you know what characteristics to look for and how to determine the best ripeness for your needs, you’re good to go. You can take home the avocados you want.

Table of Contents

Check the ripeness of the avocado

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Look at the color of the avocado. Color is probably the first feature you notice when choosing butter at the store. Ripe avocados are usually dark, almost black, and slightly green in color. If you want to eat avocados right after you buy them, you should choose dark colored avocados. If you plan to wait a few days to eat, choose greener ones. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Some avocado varieties such as Fuerte, Ettinger, Reed, and Sharwill still have a green skin when ripe, so it is important to know the name of the avocado variety you are choosing.
Remember that color is not the only factor that you need to consider when choosing ripe avocados. You should also feel the avocado to check.

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Squeeze the avocado. When you see an avocado that looks ripe, you should still touch it to check its ripeness. Hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and squeeze it gently. Ripe avocados should sink a little when you press them lightly, but not too soft or mushy. ^{[2] X Research Source}

If an avocado looks firm or hard when you press it, it’s not ripe. You should only buy this avocado if you plan to wait a few days to eat it.
Avoid buying soft avocados, as this means they are overripe.
The harder the avocado, the longer it will take to ripen.
If you buy a lot of avocados, you should probably choose avocados of different ripeness. Thus, you will have some fruits to eat right away, some fruits to eat in 2-3 days and some fruits that can be used in 4-5 days.

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Check the avocado skin. In addition to looking at the color of the avocado skin, you should also examine its texture. The skin of the avocado can be a little rough, but you need to make sure there are no large indentations, as that could be a sign that the avocado is bruised. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Observe the stem of the avocado. To make sure the avocado you’re choosing is ripe and greasy on the inside, remove the stem from the top of the avocado. If the stem core is green then it is a good avocado and you should buy it. If the core is brown, it means the avocado is overripe and best not to buy. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

When inspecting the core of an avocado, you should also look for mold. If this part is black or dark brown, the avocado is probably moldy.

Choose the right type of butter

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Choose your butter based on the flavor you like. While all types of butter taste the same, the flavors are slightly different and will likely make you prefer one over the other. Some taste like nuts, others have a milder flavor. You should choose the type of butter based on the flavor that best suits your recipe or preference. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Hass, Lamb Hass, Gwen, Reed, or Sharwil avocado varieties are rich and taste like nuts.
The Bacon and Zutano varieties have a milder flavor.

Choose avocados based on their peel characteristics. Some avocados are easy to peel, others are a little more difficult to peel. If you are in a hurry, you should buy an easy-to-peel avocado to save time. If you don’t mind the effort of peeling, you can choose any type of avocado. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Pinkerton avocados are the easiest to peel, but the Bacon, Fuerte, Hass, and Gwen varieties aren’t too difficult either.
Zutano butter is also relatively easy to peel.
Ettinger butter is the hardest to peel.

Storing and ripening avocados at home

Store unripe avocados in a paper bag. When you buy unripe avocados, you can put them on the kitchen table, and they will ripen in 4-5 days. To make the avocado ripen faster, place it in a brown paper bag with an apple or banana. These two fruits produce ethylene gas which helps the avocado to ripen in 2-3 days. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

Place the avocado paper bag out of direct sunlight to ensure that the avocado is not overcooked.
When you take the avocados out of the bag, double-check by gently pressing on the peel. Avocados should be soft but not mushy.

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Store ripe whole avocados in the refrigerator. If you bought ripe avocados to take home or ripened avocados in a paper bag but didn’t eat them right away, you can store whole avocados in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Since the cold will slow down the ripening process, you should never leave unripe avocados in the refrigerator.

Squeeze lime juice over a ripe avocado before placing it in the fridge. If you’ve eaten or used half a ripe avocado, you can store the rest in the refrigerator. However, be sure to squeeze the juice of a fresh lemon over the cut side of the avocado so it doesn’t darken. Wrap avocados in plastic wrap or an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for no more than a day. ^{[10] X Research Source}

If you still have seeds in the avocado after you cut it, chances are the avocado won’t darken.

Advice

Buying a whole bag of avocados can be a great way to save money, but all avocados in a bag are usually about the same ripeness, and you may not be able to eat them all before they go bad. It’s best to buy each avocado separately. Choose ripe fruit for immediate use, ripe fruit to eat within a few days and unripe fruit to eat after 4-5 days.
Ripe avocados are usually more fragrant than ripe ones, so you should also smell avocados when choosing to buy.

Steps

Check the ripeness of the avocado

Choose the right type of butter

Storing and ripening avocados at home

Advice

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