How To Choose An Avocado

Avocado is a favorite fruit of many people, but it is not always easy to find it, it is even more difficult to choose it - they often lie on the shelves unripe and hard. And yet this is not a reason to deny yourself pleasure, but only a matter of time and patience. Let's learn about how to choose avocados , what are the varieties that you should pay attention to and, of course, how avocados should ripen correctly .

How to choose

The fruit of an avocado is first of all a berry, and the ripeness of any berry is determined by how easily it can be plucked from the bush. There are a couple of ways to determine the ripeness of an avocado : softness gives us the first indication of ripeness, but it is not worth relying on this alone, because even a moderately soft avocado can be unripe, overripe, and, worse, rotten inside.

When buying an avocado , it is important to look at the stalk, it should separate quite easily, but not fall off on its own - this is the first sign that the avocado is rotten. The color of the fruit under the stem is also important, it should be light yellow, a little greenish, the main thing is not dark, otherwise it will be dark inside.

What varieties are there?

Avocado is a star among fruits , there are hundreds of varieties of different shapes, sizes, colors, tastes and textures. The most popular and present on the counters:

• Hass - black skin, round shape and small bone size, delicate oily texture, yellow flesh and slightly nutty taste, ideal for guacamole. Hass is also nice because it is easy to transport and it ripens perfectly, it rarely spoils and turns black. The most reliable variety. The season is all year round, they bring it from Kenya, Israel, South Africa, Mexico.

• Fuerte - green skin, elongated shape, bone, usually small. This variety has a more grassy taste, is more unstable in ripening, the flesh is white-yellow. The season is summer and autumn.

• Ettinger - thin green skin, drop-shaped shape, but a very large stone, which is a significant minus of this variety, because the weight of the fruit is quite large - 200-250 g, there is not much pulp, and the stone inside begins to quickly grow a white coating, due to that the fruit itself loses its taste and turns into a potato. The season is from September to January.

• Pinkerton - bumpy skin, small stone, yellower at the stone and lighter at the edges, pear-shaped. The skin is easily separated, as in Hassa, but at the same time the weight is usually greater. Season: autumn-spring.

There are more exotic varieties that can be found:

• Semil 34 - very tasty, oval shape, more often similar to a ball, the weight of one fruit is up to a kilogram, and the pure pulp is about 65-70%. It is important that, despite the fact that the variety is from the hot Dominican Republic, it is frost-resistant, that is, it can be stored for a long time and nothing will happen to it. It has several stages of ripening and this changes the taste. The finished semel has a fresh fruity taste, very juicy and can be eaten just like that, not very suitable for guacamole as it will be watery. However, let the fruit overripe a little, and it will be identical to hass, that is, it will become oily, a nutty flavor will appear, and the flesh will become bright yellow.

• Royal black avocado - from Burma and Vietnam. This variety is very similar to the giant hass: black dense skin and unusual flesh. The shape of a perfect ball and a small bone, this variety makes the tastiest and most beautiful guacamole, as the flesh has a canary yellow color. This variety can sometimes be found on the counters of specialized stores with exotic fruits. The season is very short - from December to March.