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With the steep price of avocados these days, one can’t afford to (literally) scrimp on quality. More often than not, when at the grocery store, it seems as if you either have the choice between an overly ripe and mushy avocado or one that looks as if it will take approximately 2-4 weeks to be soft enough to eat. Okay sure, it may not be that extreme but, when is the last time you bought the
? One that could go from the grocery store straight to your plate, sans brown spots or a texture so tough you need serious knife skills just to get through the skin? If you’re having a hard time recalling, it’s been TOO long. But don’t you fret, we have an ultra-handy hack to ensure that you will be able to pick the perfect avocado every time. Here’s how.
The Skin
As with most fruits and vegetables, the outer skin or peel can be relatively telling of what the inside entails or its level of ripeness. With avocados, we tend to skew towards the more brown variety, equating that to its readiness. That said, don’t rule out the variety that is lighter in color, especially if you don’t plan on eating it for another day or two.
An avocado that boasts a healthy skin color that encompasses a mix of brown and green—much like the one pictured above—will be at its ideal point of ripeness, and one you can enjoy shortly after purchase. It should be roughly firm to the touch, but such that gives when lightly squeezed.
The Stem
The secret to picking the perfect avocado lies within the stem. The trick? Flicking it off to reveal the mini groove of green underneath. Said indentation is about the closest you’ll get to seeing what the avocado looks like on the inside. One that is brown means that the avocado is overly ripe, while a dimple that errs on the lighter green side is not yet ready to be consumed.
The Color
So how does one decide what the ideal shade of green is? Picture the perfect avocado—we’re confident you’ve eaten enough in your lifetime to have a semblance of it—and the delicate balance of yellow-green that comprises the inside. Ideally, the dimple under the stem will boast a similar hue. Yep, that’s all there is to it.
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