How to store avocados: 3 ways

Avocado. Overseas fruit, which is no longer exotic on our tables. It is sold everywhere, it is used in the kitchen by many housewives. They get it a little underripe, and then the question arises: how to properly store avocados so that it doesn’t spoil until day X? We read and compare options.

In the freezer

The longest shelf life of an avocado is in the freezer. Makes up to 6 months. But you can not just stuff the fruit into a container. It must be prepared. You will need:

• ripe avocado
• fork or blender
• half lime or lemon
• food container or zip-bag

Procedure. Avocados should be peeled and removed. Next, the pulp must be crushed into puree. If the fruit is ripe, then this can be done easily with an ordinary table fork. When storing a large number of fruits, it makes sense to use a blender.Because of one avocado, you can unit and not get dirty.

The next step is to set the mashed potatoes in a container or sachet. Now it remains only to sprinkle the surface of the mass with lemon or lime juice, close tightly and put into the freezer.

For the preparation of salad in the future is not necessarily mash the pulp. It will be enough to remove the skin, throw a bone. Now you need to cut the avocado into pieces of the desired size, sprinkle with all the same lemon juice. Now the mass is ready for freezing and long-term storage. After thawing, the taste will be less saturated, and the flavor is slightly less strong. But they will not disappear completely and you will be able to fully enjoy the creamy-nutty tenderness of an overseas fruit.

Council After defrosting, mashed avocados should be eaten as soon as possible. In the open air, it oxidizes and acquires an unappetizing dirty color. Oxygen does not affect the taste and consistency. By the way, re-mashed avocados do not freeze.

In a refrigerator

Most sources do not recommend storing avocados in the fridge. This is partly correct. Only it is not specified that it is impossible to store an unripe avocado.Because the cold prevents the fetus to ripen normally. But already fully ripe fruit feels great on the shelf of the kitchen unit. And there are several options to save the already cut avocado.

1. With onion. Oddly enough, but the longest fruit is stored in onion fumes. It does not darken, does not become watery. You just need to cut a large onion in the bottom of the container, and put half an avocado on top. In a tightly closed container, the fruit is stored for up to 7 days with no signs of spoilage.
2. With lemon juice. For nearly 6 days, you can store sliced ​​avocados by smearing its surface with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Naturally, in a closed container.
3. With olive oil. Avocado pulp will not darken, and the fruit itself will not deteriorate for 5 days, if you carefully lubricate the cut with good olive oil. Do not forget about the container with a lid.
4. In a vacuum package. There are special packages for storing perishable foods. They create a kind of vacuum. In such an environment, avocados can be stored for up to 4 days. Unfortunately, it is impossible to physically completely remove oxygen from such a package, so the pulp will gradually darken.
5. In water. Some simply dip half of the fruit in cold water and leave in the fridge. But for 2 days this fruit darkens. By the way, it perfectly absorbs this very water, which has a very negative effect on taste. The flesh becomes the usual softer, and even an unpleasant brown shade.

As you can see, sliced ​​avocado is stored for the longest along with onions. By the way, over time, the pulp does not lose its taste, aroma and density. And it does not start to smell like raw onion.

When is it time to remove the avocado from the fridge? As soon as the first darkish streaks appeared on the pulp and small droplets of juice on the cut. This is a signal - you should immediately eat an avocado, or send it to a salad. Because it is fully ripe and even has already begun to overripe. If this is not done, in a couple of days the half of the fruit may be inedible, lethargic and loose.

Council To keep the sliced ​​avocado to keep longer and stay fresh, do not pull the bone out of the remaining half.

Also in the refrigerator there is a very good whole avocado. To do this, choose only ripe fruit. All you need is a paper bag.It is in such a package that avocado feels great in a compartment for vegetables and fruits. But plastic containers and plastic bags are not very suitable for storing whole avocados in the refrigerator. The fruit may simply "suffocate" and spoil in a matter of hours.

In the closet

If you have decided to store avocados on a shelf or in a kitchen cabinet, wrap the fruit in packaging or kraft paper. In such a wrapper, a ripe whole avocado will lie for almost a week. But you should pay attention to the temperature. It should not exceed + 22 ° С. Otherwise, the shelf life is reduced to 3 days. After all, he has such a tender pulp, which quickly deteriorates if the fruit is fully ripe.

Unripe avocado is stored a little longer. At the specified temperature - about 10 days. We recommend periodically checking avocados for maturity and storing the fruits in time separately. Otherwise, it is likely that the entire contents of the paper bag will go to the trash.

Useful tips

1. For long term storage, purchase bright green fruits. They lie the longest. But fruits with a dark green shade of the peel should be eaten as soon as possible.This is an indicator of full ripeness of avocado.
2. Even a whole fruit with intact skin has the peculiarity of quickly evaporating internal moisture. To prevent the fruit from wilting ahead of time when it is stored without a refrigerator, try to limit the access of sunlight to it. In the dark and suitable temperature conditions, the alligator pear is beautifully stored for up to 13 days.
3. Do not store avocados with any other fruit. The fact is that most of them produce ethylene, which greatly accelerates the ripening of avocados. As a result, the fetus may peresepet and begin to rot even in the refrigerator.
4. Avocado halves always keep the cut straight up. This will avoid the loss of a delicious juice, and prevent the fruit from fading too early.
5. On the basis of mashed avocado pulp prepare a delicious thick sauce. It can also be stored in the freezer for up to 5 months. Only by all means in an airtight container or a special package for freezing. Otherwise, the sauce will soak up the smells of the freezer and become smelly and inedible.
6. Some sources recommend cutting the avocado just fold the halves to each other, tightly wrapped with cling film and put in the refrigerator.We do not advise doing this, because the whole avocado will live much longer than the cut. If for some reason you had to do this, then still grease the slices with lemon juice or even apple cider vinegar. No, the shelf life of this will not increase, but then at least the pulp will not darken.

Now you know all the ways to properly store avocados. And just choose a method to protect the fruit from premature spoilage. And it is better not to store, but immediately eat. Because this fruit is very tasty.

Video: choose, peel and store avocados