How to choose an avocado and not be wrong
Avocados on the territory of the Russian Federation grows only in the Crimea, on the Black Sea coast, but there are fruits on sale in every corner of the country. The fruit will be healthy and tasty at the same time, it is only important to know how to choose an avocado. In the Russian Federation, supplies from different countries replace each other throughout the year, but the best fruits go on sale from August to April. The main supplier is Israel.
How to choose an avocado
There are several signs by which you can determine the ripeness and quality of the fruit:
- The tasty fruit has a uniform skin color, without any specks. The skin is dense, rough to the touch, brown or green, less often you can see a black or purple tint. For example, the almost black skin of the Hass variety. Avocados with a light green skin are often unripe, but in the Fuerte variety, even after the final ripening, the skin does not turn dark green. When choosing among the fruits of one variety, those that are of a darker color should be preferred.
- An important role in the recognition of ripeness is played by the place with which the fruit is attached to the branch. Ideally, it is dark yellow or light brown, with small flecks of orange. A brown tail indicates sufficient maturity. If it is green, then the avocado is unripe. You can tear off the stalk if the removal site is light brown - the fruit is ripe, green or yellow - unripe. Mold under the handle indicates spoilage; such a fruit cannot be bought.
- To determine the ripeness of the avocado, you need to press on the skin with your finger. If the resulting dents are smoothed out, this is a good sign, the fruit is ripe enough. Deep, non-disappearing dents that appear indicate an overripe fruit. A very soft fruit may have rot in the middle. You can put the fruit in your palm and squeeze slightly. This will determine how soft the avocado is.
- Sufficient ripeness is also indicated by a slight pounding of the stone when shaken.
If the stone does not knock when shaking, it is not prohibited to buy an avocado, but you will have to wait about 2-5 days before its final ripening.
For this, the fruit must be put in a paper bag and left at a temperature of + 22 ... + 25 degrees in a dark place. The avocado will ripen faster if you place a ripe banana with it. In the refrigerator, the ripening process slows down.
Ripening can be accelerated by placing the uncut and wrapped in foil in an oven preheated to 90 degrees for 10 minutes.
Read also the article: how to grow an avocado from a seed at home in a pot?
Choosing the right avocado in the store
Supermarkets often sell avocados with a glossy brown or green skin. Choosing a delicious fruit will require a little knowledge of the varieties, as different types of avocados are sold at different times of the year.
Most often varieties are on sale:
- California avocado - is the most widespread, is sold throughout the year, the peel is pimply, dark brown, the pulp is light, green, soft, used as an ingredient in salads, rolls, snacks.
- Florida - appears on sale in the fall, since it is during this period that it begins to ripen quickly, the peel is glossy, green, the flesh is juicy, inside the fruit there is a round seed of almost white color.
- Pinkerton - sold in the store all year round, differs from other varieties in the size of the seed (it is small), representatives of the variety with a dark green pimpled skin, the fruits themselves are pear-shaped.
- Fuerte - has an elongated shape and almost white flesh, found on the shelves in summer.
- Royal black - more often sold in winter (December-March), the pulp is bright, yellow, with a small stone.
- Hass - has a yellowish flesh, nutty flavor and oily texture, the fruits are round with a medium-sized stone, the unripe fruits are light green, after the final ripening the peel becomes dark purple, almost black.
When choosing, first of all, you should pay attention to the absence of traces of damage - dents and mold, since such fruits cannot be eaten. An unripe avocado can ripen after a few days at room temperature.
It is better to buy avocados in well-established supermarkets, where there is a large selection. The variety should be selected depending on the intended purpose of use.
Pinkerton and Florida can be eaten just like that, the California variety is perfect for making sandwiches, since its pulp can be spread on a loaf.
What should be an avocado for a salad
How to choose an avocado for your salad? In unripe fruits, the flesh is firm, with a slightly bitter taste. Ripe avocados are sweetish, their flesh is oily, creamy, it can be easily spread on bread, like ordinary butter. Dark green-skinned avocados taste like lightly toasted pine nuts. Brown avocados are slightly sweeter than green ones and have a slight herbal flavor.
Ripe fruits with green skin and firm flesh are perfect for preparing salad. The brown fruit is ideal for making soup or sandwiches.
Avocados are best eaten raw, as they taste slightly bitter after being cooked.
For a salad, fruits are most often required, cut into slices or cubes. Before chopping with avocado, it is necessary to remove the peel with a knife, it is separated by hand from the finally ripe fruits. One half of the fruit is enough for making a salad.
When in contact with air, the avocado pulp begins to darken like an ordinary apple. You can avoid this by sprinkling it with lemon juice.
Avocado goes well with cucumber salad and tomatoes.
How to eat avocado, its beneficial properties
Despite the ubiquity of fruits on store shelves, some do not know how to properly eat avocados:
- Pre-washed and dried fruits must be cut lengthwise around the seed. The resulting two halves must be turned in opposite directions, after which they can be easily separated from the bone and separated.
- The pulp from the halves of the fruit can be scooped out with a spoon and eaten just like that. It will be delicious if you spread it on a loaf instead of butter and add a little black pepper. For salad, the avocado is cut into pieces (before this, the peel from the fruit must be removed).
Do not eat avocado peels, leaves and seeds. This is due to the fact that they contain persine, a poorly soluble toxin similar in structure to fatty acids. If persin enters the human body, it causes poisoning or allergies.
Almost everyone will like the taste of the ripe fruit, it is only important to know how to choose an avocado. It is in perfect harmony with other vegetables in a wide variety of dishes and at the same time is very useful for the human body.
Adding one fruit per day to the diet:
- will strengthen the immune system;
- will help to normalize the digestive tract and liver;
- remove excess fluid from the body (swelling will go away);
- will reduce the risk of vascular atherosclerosis;
- reduce the level of bad cholesterol;
- increase efficiency;
- improve memory;
- will help in the fight against depression due to the high content of omega-3 fatty acids and potassium present in the composition.
Avocado perfectly relieves hunger and does not cause discomfort in the digestive tract, therefore it can be used as a snack. One hundred grams of pulp contains approximately 212 kcal.