how to buy avocadoes?

[moonrambler]

Perhaps my problem is I keep trying to buy them already ripe. I would say about one out of five is not all that. It might seem ripe on the outside but is totally hard on the inside. Or it turns out to be so ripe it's questionable. The last one I bought was hard on the inside but was brown on the inside too. Should I buy them unripe instead?

[Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi]

I buy mine unripe at Chunching's the local asian grocery - they are like 39 cents each there! Hard as rocks.

Put 'em in a brown paper bag for a few days = voila! yum. Just don't wait too long.

[stanmrak]

I buy them unripe and let them ripen at home. I seem to have better results with avocados that are more tapered at one end; the spherically-shaped ones seem to turn bad more often. I don't know why. Anyone else notice this?

[moonrambler]

As I suspected, buying them unripe must be the ticket. Already ripe ones may be force-ripened which would explain why they're hard or discolored inside.

I never noticed the difference between the quality of spherical vs tapered avocadoes, but that's an interesting observation. The one I just pitched was spherical.

[Lakshyayidhi Lakshmihi]

Originally Posted by stanmrak

I buy them unripe and let them ripen at home. I seem to have better results with avocados that are more tapered at one end; the spherically-shaped ones seem to turn bad more often. I don't know why. Anyone else notice this?

I haven't - have you tried the brown paper bag method to speed up ripening?

I just wanted to mention this useless piece of trivia:

The word 'avocado' comes from the Nahuatl word ahuacatl (testicle).

[Solipsist]

Won't money work?

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

As I suspected, buying them unripe must be the ticket. Already ripe ones may be force-ripened which would explain why they're hard or discolored inside.

The other problem with already-ripened ones is that they're often bruised because they're soft.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by Solipsist

Won't money work?

You goof

[ginkgo]

It could be the ripe ones in the strores are just picked up and put down many times and moved around. It is OK to do that to an unripe, hard one but not a ripe hard one. To help them ripen faster in a brown bag, you can add an orange or couple of bananas. Also try to buy organic.

[Indiana]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

It could be the ripe ones in the strores are just picked up and put down many times and moved around.

Was just going to suggest this! Also maybe they damage more easily in transport or something.

Best thing is to grow your own. You will need to start now, with two trees that can cross fertilise (a male and female) but in 30 years you will have so many magnificent avocados that you won't know what to do with them. (Start a guacamole shop?)