Avocados have appeared in our markets recently - they brought it from Mexico and Central America, and also began to be cultivated in the Caucasus.
This large fruit resembles a pear in appearance, but to taste it has nothing in common.
As long as the avocado is green, it is bland and tough. And only when ripe, it becomes juicy, and its pulp acquires the taste of butter and walnut.
Despite the high calorie content, avocados are used in the diet, because it has a lot of useful substances.
Useful properties of avocado
- Avocado contains easily digestible fats (30%), as well as protein, sugar and a large number of trace elements - calcium, potassium, magnesium, fluorine, copper, iron.
- There are vitamins A, B, C, D, E, K. in its fruits.
- It can be included in the diet of patients with diabetes.
- This fruit is recommended for eating with gastritis with low acidity, with hypertension, anemia and atherosclerosis.
- Broths of leaves and seeds are taken with diarrhea, colitis and enterocolitis.
Avocados are eaten fresh, because during heat treatment it starts to taste bitter. It is added to salads, and also used for sandwiches, replacing them with butter. But in order for an avocado to fully reveal its taste, it must be ripe.
How to choose the right avocado
The fact is that many do not even know what a ripe avocado looks like, because the color of the fruit depends not only on the degree of maturity, but also on the variety. Avocados are dark green, yellowish green, chestnut, black and purple, and even black and purple. Therefore, first consider the fruit itself. It should have a dense skin without cracks, spots and dents. All sorts of specks indicate that the avocado has begun to deteriorate. It is enough to take it in hand and slightly squeeze in order to understand whether it is ripe or not. Green Avocados will be tough. It absolutely will not respond to pressing a finger. If, when pressed on the surface of the fruit, there will be a hole, which will soon disappear, this avocado is reasonably ripe and you can buy it. Strongly soft avocados can be over-ripe and even spoiled. From such a purchase is better to refuse.
Some experts advise to pull the fruit stem to see how it comes off and what color the fruit is under it. But will the seller allow me to mock his goods?
Before you buy an avocado, you should decide for what purpose it is purchased and when you are going to eat. The fact is that avocados are perishable fruit and cannot be stored for a long time even in ideal conditions. But he has one positive quality: green avocado ripens easily at room temperature for several days.
- Therefore, if you want to stretch the pleasure and try to keep it for a week or two, then you need to buy an immature fruit that will be hard.
- For eating avocados in the near future it is worth choosing only ripe fruits.
- For the preparation of pasta or avocado sauce, you can buy overripe fruit, which, by the way, sellers can sell cheaper. But in this case, there is a risk to get rotten fruit.
Storage and temperature conditions depend on the degree of maturity of the avocado.
How to store unripe avocado
Green avocados stored at room temperature. If in a room 20-23 °, then such fruits in a week will become ripe and tasty.
So that they can ripen faster, they are put in a paper bag and placed on a shelf away from light and an abundance of moisture, for example, in a storeroom. To speed up this process and enjoy a tasty avocado in 2-3 days, put a banana or an apple in a bag with these fruits. It has long been known that the ethylene gas released by these fruits accelerates the ripening of nearby fruits.
It is not necessary to remove whole green avocados in the refrigerator, which will slow down the ripening of fruits, and from this their taste will become much worse.
However, if the avocado is already cut in half, but turned green, you can improve its taste by placing it in the refrigerator for several days.
Cut avocado can not be left at room temperature, because its pulp, reacting with air, will quickly begin to oxidize and the fruit will simply deteriorate.
- To avoid this, freshly cut avocados are sprinkled with lemon juice or diluted citric acid. Do the same as with sliced apples, when they want to keep them light.
- Then quickly connect both halves and tightly wrap with cling film.
- Clean in the refrigerator and store in the department for vegetables no more than 2-3 days.
How to store ripe avocado
If you want to eat avocado in the near future, then you can leave it at room temperature. In all other cases, it is removed in the refrigerator, which will slow down the ripening of the fruit, and it will remain edible longer. The fruit is placed in a plastic container or plastic bag with a zip-clasp, from which all air is released. Clean in the fridge and kept in the compartment for vegetables. The storage time depends on the degree of maturity, that is, the more ripe the fruit, the fewer days it will be able to remain uncorrupted.
- If they want to preserve half a ripe avocado, then take the part that is with a bone.
- It is sprinkled with lemon juice to eliminate the darkening of the pulp, wrapped in cling film and put into the refrigerator.
- Such an avocado is stored for no more than 1-2 days.
How to store frozen avocado
Avocados can be frozen. Some freeze it in the form of cubes. But after thawing the avocado loses its shape and turns into a mess. Therefore, it is best to freeze it in the form of mashed potatoes.
- For this, the fruits are washed, cut in half and the bone is removed.
- Cut off the peel from them or scrape the pulp.
- The flesh is cut into small cubes.
- Crush in a blender and immediately add lemon juice so that the mash does not darken.
- Put in a plastic container and close tightly with a lid.
- Clean in the freezer. Store 6 months.
Mistress to note
Regardless of the form in which the avocado is stored, it must be checked daily in order to notice in time that the fruit has begun to deteriorate.
