Shoppers buying avocados in supermarkets this November have been urged to check their fruit is ready to take home and eat.
Many supermarket avocados are nowhere near ripe enough and you could find yourself playing the waiting game if you select the wrong one.
And many shoppers may not realise that avocados are one of the worst items to buy when it comes to climate change, usually being flown thousands of miles out of season.
The avocado may seem like a humble ingredient but it’s gained notoriety as a fruit in recent years after becoming a symbol of overspending.
Australian billionaire and luxury real estate mogul Tim Gurner came under serious fire from furious millennials after implying that young people can’t afford to buy a home because they’re wasting money on fancy toast.
It’s possible to pay over £10 for the pleasure of eating smashed avocado on toast in a cafe and while it’s not exactly breaking the bank in the way Gurner suggests, it is cheaper to buy one yourself and rustle up the dish at home.
If you have a penchant for the dish then there are four key things to bear in mind when picking one out to ensure it is perfectly ripe.
According to WikiHow, you need to check its colour, how soft it is, its skin texture and examine its stem before buying.
Firstly, the colour. You want to look for ones that are almost black as the ripest avocados are very dark, with only a hint of green. Of course it can depend on the variety as the Fuerte, Ettinger, Reed, and Sharwill avocados stay green when ripe, so make sure you check the variety before buying.
Secondly, make sure to give the avocado a good squeeze and if yields slightly then this is perfectly ripe. An avocado that feels soft is overripe and if it’s very firm or hard then it needs a little longer to ripen before eating.
Thirdly, you want to check the texture of the skin to ensure it’s slightly pebbled. If it has large indentations this can be a sign that it’s been bruised so it’s best to avoid.
Fourthly, you should examine the avocado’s stem by peeling back the small cap at the top. If it looks green underneath then this is a good sign that the avocado is ripe and creamy, whereas if it’s brown it is overripe and best avoided.
If you follow these four steps then you should have cafe-worthy avocado on toast at home every time – for a fraction of the cost.
