Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Works for Me Wednesday: Ripening an Avocado

Apparently, we have a thing for avocados around here since this is my second avocado-related WFMW tip. It might give the impression that we are health-conscious, avocado-eating kinda folks. Nah, we just like guacamole with our cheesy, sour-cream-covered chicken quesadillas.


Okay, I do like avocado on a salad, but I never think to buy it for that.


So, do you know what's worse than not having any fresh, homemade guacamole for your chicken quesadillas? It has to be having an unripe avocado for your guacamole-making. I've discovered a sure-fire way to take care of that, though.


I've discovered, thanks to the Internet, that avocados don't actually ripen until they are picked. So, if you aren't going to be using the avocado for a few days, you can just leave it sitting out at room temperature and it will ripen.


But, what if you're in a hurry? In that case, place the avocado in a brown paper bag, roll it shut, and leave the avocado sitting out at room temperature. It will be perfectly ripened in a day or two.


I wasn't sure just how quickly an avocado would ripen until this past weekend. I bought a very green one late Thursday evening. I put it in a paper bag and by Saturday evening, it was perfect.


Visit Kristin at We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday tips.

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Posted by Kris at 12:01 AM
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9 comments:

  1. Ah neat!
    I've heard this for other foods but didn't know it would work for avocados! Glad you shared it, cuz I have 2 here right now and well, I'd like to not have to wait to eat them! :-)
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  2. Love it! What a great tip! I have to admit that I've become an avacado picking afficianado because, I too am a health nut.. ahem.. sorry... I love cheese and guacamole covered Mexican dishes. The best way to test is to give them a little squeeze and they are perfect or close to perfect if they indent just the slightest and don't bounce back. Oh... if only it wasn't close to midnight. I'd find something to cover with Guac!!
    Great tip! Thanks for sharing!
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  3. We LOVE avocados over here...=)

    Hope you had a great ann. the other day... were you totally suprised at the tweet bomb gong off in your corner of the blogger world?? lol..
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  4. Good tips! I mainly had to stop by and say that the title of your blog is genius! I love it. There are several couples at my church that home school and do a great job and have perfectly socialized children so it made me laugh! Good for you!!! My husband teaches at a Private Christian School but if that weren't an option I would homeschool mine when they are of age, I think.
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  5. Great tip! That works for most fruit in general too, I use it with bananas. But I don't know why it works. I'm assuming it has something to do with a build-up of gases. Did your site explain how it works? Sorry, it's the homeschooler in me wanting to know :)
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  6. Great tip! I have a couple of unripened avocados sitting on my kitchen counter at this very moment - I will definitely try the paper bag trick to ripen them faster.
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  7. We eat a ton of avocados. I like to just slice then and eat them. But they are so good on salad and sandwiches, too. If you need it right away you can also put it in the microwave for short intervals (30 seconds at a time) until it is soft enough. I would not do this for slicing and eating but it works perfect for a guacamole emergency!
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  8. Good to know! I hate having to wait a week for the avocado I've been wanting to use!!! =)
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  9. Maybe my house is too warm, but I've found that if I leave an unripe avocado out on the counter for about one day, it will be perfect the following day. Oh. And I found out that the place we are probably moving to in a few months has an avocado tree! (And a mango tree, but that's beside the point.) YAY!
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