Avocados are highly perishable. Once mature, they ripen very fast and last only about two to three weeks. Everyone knows that if left out fruits become overripe and go to waste. Then, will avocados last longer if you keep them in the fridge?
Storing perishables does not have to be as difficult as you think it is. The first information you need is how long it takes for the fruit to ripen. Avocados take four to seven days to ripen after harvesting.
How well you store them determines how nicely they’ll whip up into a bowl of salad or guacamole. If your avocados look like they’ll ripen earlier than when you need them, how do you store them to slow down ripening? Straightforward, refrigerate them.
Let’s find out how productive refrigerating avocados is.
What are avocados?
Avocados are pear-shaped fruits from the family Lauraceae. Avocado pear or alligator pear are other names for this fruit. They are classified as berries because they contain a large seed in a pit inside the fruit.
Avocados are very flesh, buttery, and creamy. The butteriness of avocados helps to whip them up into delicious guacamole. The creamy flesh within makes a hearty bowl of salad.
Furthermore, some people prefer mashed avocados as a butter substitute because of their low-calorie content. In addition, avocados are nutrient-dense, and healthy for the heart, eyes, and digestive system.
The rich fiber content aids bowel movement and prevents colon cancer. Eating avocados can also help lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Do avocados last longer in the fridge?
Yes, they do.
Storing avocados in the fridge can help keep them longer. Fully ripe avocados will last three to four days in the refrigerator if you store them properly.
Moreover, if you want avocados to ripen slowly before you need them, keep them in the fridge. However, you should not put unripe avocados in the fridge.
The cold temperature in the fridge will hinder the buildup of ethylene gas, which speeds up ripening. Refrigerate avocados once they become ripe at room temperature.
Will unripe avocados become ripe in the fridge?
Yes, they will but it depends on how unripe the avocados are.
Unripe avocados will ripen in the fridge, but they may take a long while to soften. But it is not advisable to keep unripe avocados in the fridge. The best way to preserve avocados is to refrigerate them when they are one or two days away from ripening.
When avocados are almost ripe or already ripe, move them into the fridge to ripen slowly. This way you’ll have ripe and soft, buttery avocados.
How to store avocadoes in the fridge
Whole avocado
Put the whole avocado in a plastic bag. Ensure you squeeze out as much air as you can before you seal the bag. Then, keep the bag in the crisp drawer of the fridge to keep it longer.
The coldness of the drawer will prevent the fruit from overripening into a mushy mess. It will ripen slowly and remain fresh.
If you’re storing more than one avocado, it is best to wrap the avocados separately. This way you can stop one bad avocado from contaminating the others.
Cut avocado
Sliced, mashed or puréed avocados should be stored airtight. Place the cut avocado into a food storage container, add lemon juice, and cover it with plastic wrap.
Plastic wrap is a better option than the lid of the storage container because you need to keep out as much air as you can.
In addition, adding lemon juice to avocados before refrigerating will help prevent browning which is caused by oxidation, a process that occurs when avocados come in contact with oxygen.
How can you store avocados long-term?
The best way to store avocados long-term is to freeze them. But you don’t have to freeze unripe avocados. It is safe to leave them in the kitchen to ripen. When they ripen, freeze them for long-term storage.
The best way to freeze avocados is to mash or pureé them. This way, you can keep avocados for up to six months. Mash or pureé the avocados and transfer the paste into a food storage container.
Afterward, you should squeeze lemon juice over it to prevent browning before you cover the lid.
Whenever you bring out the avocado paste, it’ll be fresh and full of flavor. There may be a little compromise in texture, but it will still make a delicious bowl of guacamole.
How do you know an avocado is ripe?
A ripe avocado has dark green skin and feels like a ripe orange when you feel it with your hands.
When avocado is ripe, it will yield to gentle pressure and has a bumpy texture. If you notice any of these signs, the avocado is ready to eat.
Do avocados go bad?
Yes, avocados go bad.
As mentioned earlier, avocados are highly perishable, and their high metabolic rate makes them ripen quickly. When you do not store avocados properly or when they become overripe, they’ll go bad and become unfit to eat.
How do you know avocado has gone bad?
1. Examine the skin
Touch the avocado. If the skin feels too soft and it becomes dented at the slightest pressure, it is too ripe and is going bad already. A good and ripe avocado should feel firm and bumpy.
Also, a blackened avocado has most likely gone bad. However, not all varieties of avocados become blackened when they go bad.
Some varieties do not have the dark green skin others have, so you may not conclude until you cut the avocado open.
In addition, did you notice any mold growth? White or gray patches or fuzzy growth on the body of your avocado is a sign that you should not eat it. Although it may be on just one part, mold spreads quite fast.
2. Cut it open and look at the flesh
If the skin doesn’t say so much about the avocado, go ahead to cut it open. If the first thing you see is mold growth, throw the avocado.
In the absence of mold, but you can see black spots or streaks all over the flesh, that fruit is meant for the bin.
Also, carefully examine the spots or streaks to be sure they are not bruises. If they appear on just one part of the fruit and the other parts look okay, you can keep the avocado.
3. Smell it
Any deviation from the fresh fruity smell that good avocados have should not be bargained.
Bad avocados smell foul, rancid, and like chemical compounds. If an avocado smells like this, you certainly do not want it anywhere close to your mouth. You should throw the fruit away.
FAQs
How long will avocados last once cut?
Cut, mashed, or puréed avocados will last only three to four days in the fridge.
How can you store unripe avocados outside the refrigerator?
How you store unripe avocados depends on how soon they’ll ripen or how soon you want them ripe.
If you want your avocado ripened sooner than later, keep it close to a window where it is exposed to sunshine. In contrast, if you want it ripe in three to four days, leave it on the countertop in the kitchen.
Will avocados last long in water?
Yes, they will. You can keep the cut avocado in water and pop it into the fridge to keep your fruit fresh and green for up to three days.
How does this work? In water, the cut avocado is kept from the oxidation process that turns the fruit brown.
However, you shouldn’t keep the avocados in water beyond three days. Also, make sure you’re using clean water.
Conclusion
Refrigerating fruits greatly helps to slow down the ripening process. And this works well for avocados. Avocado storage begins with its level of ripeness.
If the avocados are already ripe, keep them in the fridge for only a few days to keep them longer. But you don’t have to refrigerate them if they are still quite hard.
Thanks for reading.
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