I am always perplexed - in our stores the fruits of avocados are sold mostly unfit for consumption. But someone is buying up these mountains of avocado!

1. In the store: Lightly press the avocado with your fingers. It should be a little soft. Very hard fruits of avocado are often sold - they have flesh like wood, this is not at all. An avocado should not be rotten, not have transparent semi-liquid spots on the skin, but it should be soft - slightly give in under your finger like a ripe peach.

2. Clean Avocados: cut it in half, cutting it to the bone.
Can be cut into quarters. Gently break into cuts, remove the parts from the stone - they are removed easily if you bought the Ripe avocado fruit. Throw out the bone. Remove the skin from the avocado - it is removed very easily and entirely if you bought the Ripe avocado fruit.

The pulp of a truly ripe avocado fruit is simply wonderful - soft, buttery, with a light fresh unique flavor. An avocado, like a cucumber, has a neutral taste, only in a cucumber it is watery-fresh, and in an avocado it is oily-fresh.

Avocados, like cucumbers, are good to eat with soft white salty cream cheese or white soft salty cheese paste. You can put such cheese on bread, on top of a slice of avocado pulp - this is the food of the gods!

Like cucumber, avocados go well with shrimp and other seafood.

Try simple salad: mix peeled and boiled king prawns with avocado slices and chopped lettuce, pour in pink sauce (pink sauce: mayonnaise + ketchup in a ratio of 50:50).

It’s good to cook from avocado sauces  for salads and hot, whipping its pulp in a blender with 10% cream and various flavors - spices, seasonings, fried mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, etc.

Stuffed avocado  - do not throw out the halves of the avocado skin, prepare a salad using the pulp of avocado and other finely chopped ingredients - and fill the halves of the avocado skin with this salad. Garnish with greens and chopped egg on top.

Enjoy the delicious and wholesome avocado fruit!

Tropical fruit entices users with its novelty. Often, after a purchase, consumers think about what to do with it, how to eat. But even before that, at the time of purchase, they ask themselves how to choose an avocado in a ripe store? There are parameters that determine the suitability of the product. We will cover them in our materials so that there is not a single question left, you should not be disappointed in the purchase.

What does an avocado look like?

Avocado - an exotic fruit, fruit, has a green peel with tubercles. Color varies in any direction: from light to dark. Inside is a large bone surrounded by oily flesh. Only pulp is eaten, bone cannot be eaten. Seed contains a large amount of toxic substances. They acquire fruit for the preparation of salads, first courses, mashed potatoes, a mixture for sandwiches and other recipes. This suggests that it is not sweet, so it is often called a vegetable.

Ripening parameters

Before buying, you need to know everything about the proposed product. Variety, country of importer, degree of maturity. If you can’t figure it out on your own, ask the sales consultants, although the variety, date of import, country of importer are indicated on the price tag. It is important to know the fact that the benefits of avocados are directly dependent on ripeness.

By grade

The following varieties are imported to Russia for sale.

1. Florida. Fruits with dense pulp, a thin bright green skin. Due to the fact that the insides are quite elastic, ripeness is difficult to determine when pressed. On sale at the Russian counter, they fall from November to May. Even if you feel firm, do not worry. This avocado is an excellent ingredient for salads.
2. California. In external coloring brown prevails more. Ripeness is determined easily, just click on it with a finger or shake it, inside you will hear the sound of a bone. It is used for pastes, mashed potatoes due to the excellent softness of the pulp. On sale found all year round.
3. Pinkerton. Its thick peel often makes it difficult to determine ripeness. On it are small pimples than on the first. The exterior color is almost blackish. The bone is small, so shaking will not give you ripeness results.

Important! If you could not determine the ripeness by belonging to the variety, do not despair. Let it be immature than overripe, since at home at room temperature the desired condition is quickly achieved.

According to external characteristics

Choosing the right exotic is not difficult, just follow simple recommendations:

1. Inspect first. Look around the peel, it should not have cracks, dents, diaper rash, rot. The darker the color, the ripe the fruit. This indicator will not give an accurate definition of ripeness, since it is influenced by belonging to the variety.
2. The store is allowed to touch the fruit with his hands. If you click on it, then a ripe avocado is when the dent restores its previous forms. The pit remained dented - the fruit is ripe; not formed at all - immature. In any case, all forms are applicable. For immature, it is necessary to wait 3 to 5 days, for overripe it is preferable to use immediately after purchase.
3. Maturity can be determined by bone. If you shake the avocado, the ripe fruit will emit a thud. This means that the fruit seed has ripened and is easily separated inside the cusps. This did not happen, the avocado is not ripe.

In any case, the choice has been made, and you, hoping for your success, acquire the goods.

Determination of ripeness at home

After the avocado is brought home, continue checking. Cut the stem. At the cut point, the trace looks:

• too wet, brownish - overripe;
• dry, yellow or green - unripe;
• moist, bright green - ripe and tasty.

In the process of preparing various recipes, according to the consistency of the pulp, its condition is also determined. If it is tender, oily, easily spreads on bread, the desired fruit is caught.

Important! Ripe salad is not very suitable, as its pulp, at best, will look like dressing, and not a separate ingredient. In this case, you should choose a slightly immature avocado for salad, as it is easy to cut into any portioned slices.

The choice is made, you have a good, ripe fruit. If you do not use it immediately, the flesh becomes dark in color, to avoid this, smear the slice with lemon, and store it.

What to do if an avocado is not ripe? Advice of experienced housewives: wrap the fruit in a newspaper, put an apple and bananas next to it. The ripening process will accelerate twice.

These simple tips will help you choose the right avocado so that it is tasty, juicy, tender. These indicators depend on the degree of maturation. Remember them when you make a purchase, and not when you brought the goods home. After all, the fruit may be too soft and quickly deteriorate. And we will talk about how to eat it in another article.

Exotic avocado fruit attracts with its unusual taste and usefulness. Choosing it, it is very easy to make a mistake and buy not quite the fruit you would like. When the avocado has come to the right ripeness, you can get great pleasure from it.

In order not to waste money and not to be disappointed, you should know the nuances that will help you make the right choice.

The usefulness and use of avocados

The avocado contains many vitamins and minerals. In combination, they favorably affect the human body.

Avocados contain polyunsaturated fatty acids that help improve memory, increase its concentration, and reduce the risk of heart ailments.

Thanks to potassium, which is part of the fruit, stress resistance is increased and water-salt metabolism is normalized. Copper and iron save from anemia.

Avocados have a valuable ability to lower blood pressure. Therefore, the fruit is useful to those who are prone to hypertension.

The size of the avocado is from 5 to 10 centimeters. The fruit mass is in the region of 200 grams, although fruits are found up to a kilogram.

Avocados can take various forms:

• pear-shaped;
• oval;
• spherical.

Regardless, ripe fruits make excellent mashed soups, smoothies and smoothies. The fruit pulp can be spread on bread and enjoy a pleasant creamy taste. Avocados are added to salads and used to make rolls.

The secrets of choosing an avocado

When choosing an avocado, you need to consider it from all sides. There should be no damage, cracks or dots on the peel. Spots indicate that the fruit is overripe, and possibly rotted inside.

You should pay attention to the ripeness level of avocados. If the fruit is not fully ripened, then it has a hard flesh, and the taste is bitter and cloying.

Ripe sweet and tasty fruit. The flesh of an avocado is oily, tender. It can easily be crushed with a fork. It is such a fruit that you need to buy.

Avocados are selected taking into account the criteria:

• skin color;
• softness;
• stalk.

Depending on the degree of ripening in the fetus, various skin colors are observed:

• Light green. This color indicates that the avocado is not yet ripe. You can bring it to a ripe state on the windowsill. But it will take at least five days for the fruit to become soft and supple.
• Moderate green. If the avocado has such a color, then until complete ripeness he has two days left.
• Saturated green. It is enough for the fetus to lie down for about a day to turn into a ripened fruit.
• Dark green with a brownish tint. The fruit can and should be eaten immediately after purchase.

Touching the fruit and slightly pressing the skin with your fingers, you can almost with a 100 percent probability determine the degree of its maturity. If the avocado feels slightly bent when pressed, and then the dent smoothes out quickly, then the fruit should be great. It is soft, but not loose. The elasticity of the skin suggests that the fruit is not overripe.

Cuttings  - Another distinguishing feature that allows you to make a choice. In soft avocados, it can be light yellow or dark brown. It is better to choose a fruit with a light shank, because its dark color indicates that the avocado has already oversized and has lost part of its usefulness and taste.

Inside the fruit is a stone. If, when shaking the fetus, its knock is heard, then you can buy it safely - it is ripe and juicy.

When an avocado is bought for the future, it is better to choose a heavy and hard fruit.

What to do with an unripe avocado

The most delicious fruits of any fruit are ripe. This fully applies to avocados.

Hard and unripe fruits taste like an unripe pear or pumpkin, and you do not need to eat them right away. But when it was not possible to find ripe avocados, you should not be upset.

At first glance, all the fruits seem the same, but take your time. If you take a closer look at the color of the skin, you will see that it is different. Avocados come in several varieties. Depending on the season, one or the other species appear on the shelves. Here are the key representatives:

• californian variety. The most common variety that lies on store shelves all year round. Its main feature is a dark brown skin with pimples. The flesh is light green in color with a faint smell of freshness, slightly soft. Inside, under the layer of pulp, a light brown bone is hidden. The California variety is used for cutting into salads, for making rolls and various snacks;
• florida variety. Fruits appear not earlier than autumn, since it is after the summer that their rapid ripening begins. The skin is glossy, mostly green. The pulp is non-greasy, but with a lot of juice inside. The bone is round. white color;
• Pinkerton. The main distinguishing feature of Pinkerton from other representatives is the presence of a small bone inside the pulp. The skin is pimpled and its color is dark green. Pinkerton is sold year-round, as ripening occurs regardless of the season.

Interesting!

100 g of avocado pulp contains 150 kcal.

Try to buy fruit in proven places where there is a large selection. If there are several varieties, then consider for what purpose you are acquiring fruit. So, the Florida variety and Pinkerton are more suitable for fresh consumption just like that. But the flesh of a California avocado can even be smeared on a loaf.

Criterias of choice

Before you rush to buy fruit, take a look at them better. Turn the avocado in your hands, is there any damage on the skin? If so, take another fruit, rate it. On a skin there should not be deep scratches, cracks. If a specific pungent odor emanates from the fruit, the process of decay has probably already begun. Rate the fetus for several more criteria:

• skin color. It should be dark green or brown, depending on the variety. Do not buy too light fruits, they have not yet ripened. The dark avocado is likely to be perepalis already, and it is necessary to eat it in the near future;
• hardness. Try gently squeezing the fruit with your fingers and evaluate your sensations. If after pressing on the peel there were deep dents, then the flesh has already turned into a "mess". When the fruit does not shrink at all, it has not yet matured, the flesh most likely still has a bitter taste. The surest sign of a good avocado is this: after compression, fingerprints remained, but they quickly disappeared;
• stalk. The brown tail indicates that the fruit was plucked for a long time, and it has already managed to fully ripen. The green stalk suggests otherwise.

Even if you accidentally bought an unripe avocado, do not throw it away. The fruit will ripen normally at home. Wrap it in plain paper, leave it in a warm room for 2-3 days.

Attention!

To keep the avocado ripening faster, place a ripe banana next to it.

How to clean

Peeling fruit is easy, even an inexperienced person can do it in a couple of minutes. Take a sharp knife and chopping board, and then go to clean. For convenience, the process is scheduled in stages:

• wash the avocado, then blot with napkins;
• make deep cuts on the sides to divide the fruit into 2 halves. Gently rotate the halves in different directions: so you will see a bone;
• pry a bone with a knife, carefully remove it from the pulp;
• remove the skin from the halves with a knife. It is quite easy to clean it, you do not need to take a knife, just pick up the tip of the peel with your fingers, pull it down, it will peel off;
• cut the fruit into slices or squares as you like more.

You can not get the pulp out of the peel, for example, but eat it directly with a spoon. Remember that after cutting the fruit should not be stored for a long time. A cut avocado is able to lie a maximum of 2-3 days and only at low temperatures. Before storing half the fruit for storage, wrap the cut area with cling film and refrigerate. Avocados are good at absorbing strong odors, so storing fragrant foods such as onions and garlic is not recommended.

As it is

It all depends on your taste, as well as the availability of free time. The easiest way is to sprinkle the pulp with lemon juice, add a little salt and eat with a spoon. Instead of lemon juice, you can take soy sauce. Pulp toast is prepared for breakfast in Europe. Take slices of toasted bread and spread them with pulp. Add a couple of slices of bacon or fish fillet on top of the sandwich. You can even fry an egg or add baked chicken breast. Breakfast will be unusual and hearty.

Avocados are served as a side dish for meat dishes or for poultry. Bake a beef steak with Italian herbs in foil, put peeled slices of fruit on a dish with meat and sprinkle with lemon. Garnish the dish with sprigs of parsley. You can use fruit pulp to make various sauces. Make salad dressing: mix the flesh from one avocado with spices and low-fat yogurt, do not forget to salt. In addition to dressing, avocado is suitable for cooking mashed soups, it will give additional tenderness in taste.