In salads, desserts, rolls or just whole - the delicate taste of avocado will be appropriate in any of these cases. In addition to gastronomic pleasure, this fruit will provide you with vitamins and minerals. But only if it is ripe and of high quality! tropical fruit has ceased to be exotic for us. But even admirers do not always know how to choose the right avocado. In this article, we will consider the criteria for a quality fruit, so as not to make a mistake and not pay in vain.
What to look for when choosing?
It is much easier to meet an overripe or green avocado in our stores than to buy a quality fruit. This is due to the conditions and duration of transportation: they can deteriorate, not ripen, and stale. But a knowledgeable buyer is not easy to fool. There are a number of criteria that will help determine the correct fetus. So how to choose good avocado and not guess?
Nutritional value per 100 grams:
Color and Density
The first thing that catches your eye is the color. Avocados vary in color from light green to black. It can be good both in the first case and in the second. The main condition is a combination of density and color. The first rule of buying: choose well ripe avocado in a store or in the market you can only if you feel it. In supermarkets, hardly anyone will prevent you from doing this. But when shopping on the market, you should expect zealous attacks from sellers, some of them will not even allow you to touch the product. Buying "without looking" is definitely not worth it.
Picking up an avocado, pay attention to the combination of color and firmness. If you plan to eat it on the day of purchase, it should be moderately soft and dark green. And light and hard without loss of quality will last up to 5 days. In the table you can clearly see how to choose a delicious avocado.
| Color | Density | Quality |
| light green | Solid | Unripe fruit. It can be left to ripen, for example on a windowsill, for 5 days. But on the day of purchase, you should not eat it, it will taste very tart. |
| moderate green | Solid | Such a product needs to lie down for ripening for 3 days. It is softer in taste, but still with astringency. |
| deep green | Soft | It is better to hold the avocado for another day so that it becomes softer in texture and taste. |
| dark green | Solid | Rare variety "California" or "Kaas". It costs more than others, but tastes the same. To use, you need to leave for 3-5 days until it becomes softer. |
| dark green | Very soft | It's just an overripe avocado. It is not worth taking it, as it has lost useful material and may be rotten. |
By remembering these criteria, you will know exactly how to choose a ripe and delicious avocado for any culinary purpose. For sweet salads and sauces, you can take very soft ones, most importantly - without beaten and dark areas on the skin. Fruit of medium ripeness is suitable for rolls. Choosing an avocado for a salad is a little more difficult, it should be soft and dark green so as not to interrupt the taste of other ingredients with astringency.
Interesting fact: you can quickly and accurately determine the ripeness by listening to the fruit. Shake it and listen: if the stone knocks inside, the avocado is ripe.
Skin
Separate dark or whitish spots on the peel are a reason to put aside the "chosen one". The surface of the fruit should be uniform, without dents. But the skin will also tell us what is inside. We are more interested in this factor in terms of economy. If you meet an avocado with a smooth shiny surface, you will give half the cost for a bone. Inside it has a large core, and the skin is removed only with a knife along with part of the pulp.
The wrinkled surface is what you need to choose the right avocado. Such a shell is easily removed even without a knife and does not catch the edible part. His bone is much smaller. In both cases, you will pay the same amount, but avocados with “pimples” will have more pulp. Ideally, if a slight pressure on the surface leaves a dent, which slowly disappears. This is a sign of a ready-to-eat fruit.
cutting
Another factor that gives out a low-quality avocado is the stalk. He will tell you if the fruit is rotten inside. If there is a stem left on the fruit, remove it. It easily falls off if you pick it up with your finger. A dent will remain in place of the stem, we are interested in its color. The stalk should be light brown or light yellow. An unripe avocado will have a light green tint. Such a purchase can be postponed for a while for ripening, but it will not be possible to enjoy it right away. If the stalk of a hard avocado is dark brown or black, the fruit is rotten inside. The soft fruit with a brownish or yellow stem is suitable for same-day use.
it simple rules how to choose an avocado in a store or market. They will help both the beginner and the “regular” of vegetable counters. The matter will remain with culinary delights: sweet and meat salads, rolls, guacamole…
Source
Wikipedia: Avocado
To date, avocado fruits are used a lot in cooking, soups, snacks and other delicious meals. Avocado will delicious fruit in the event that it is properly prepared and selected.
When choosing an avocado in the store, determine the maturity of the fruit. To begin with, press on the fruit, only slightly, then the dent, after the fingers should instantly smooth out, because the fruit itself is elastic and it is in this state that the avocado fruits should be chosen. Also, when shaking a ripe avocado, the pits knock. Naturally, an unripe avocado will not be soft when pressed or the dent will not smooth out. If the avocado bones do not knock, then such a fruit can be bought, but you will need to wait 2-4 days for it to ripen, wrap it in paper and put it in a dark, cool place at room temperature. A very soft avocado should not be bought because it may be rotten in the middle.
There is another way to choose an avocado in the store - this is the definition of avocado maturity: removing the stalk from the fruit. After removing, take the fruit and look at the place where the stalk was removed, if the avocado is ripe, then the place will be brown, in the unripe it will be green or yellow. It is worth choosing an avocado, where the place from the cutting has a bright green color. By clicking on the trace, you should see the juice that stands out, which indicates the ripeness of the fruit.
When answering the question of how to choose the right avocado, it is worth considering the following. Of great importance appearance avocado. The peel of the fruit can be green or brown. Brown avocado fruit can be used to make soup, puree or simply spread on a sandwich. Green, ripe avocados have firmer flesh and are used in salads.
Be careful when choosing an avocado, and know exactly what kind of avocado you need to prepare the dish you conceived in advance.
How to choose a ripe avocado for salad dressing? First of all, you need to pay attention to the maturity and flavor of the fruit. If the taste is bitter and unpleasant, and its flesh is hard, then the fruit is unripe. Ripe and ripe, the fruit has a pleasant, sweetish flavor and a buttery, creamy texture that can be spread on sandwiches like butter.
If you are a little uneducated in avocado varieties, then you can buy the following in stores and supermarkets: Furerte, Gwen, Pinkerton, Reed and others.
Avocado fruit is not only used for cooking, but also for hair conditioner, various masks and facial cosmetics. Having now learned the basic tips for choosing this fruit, you should have no questions left about what an avocado should be.
The exotic fruit avocado is recognized as the most nutritious fruit, for which he was honored with a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. It contains so many vitamins and minerals that it has become referred to as a super food. But they fell in love with the overseas fruit not only for its benefits, but also for unique taste and aroma. To some it resembles nuts, to others spices, the third - needles. If you haven't tried avocado yet, you should definitely do so.
How to choose a really ripe fruit in order to feel the whole rich palette of taste. Consider the main features that distinguish a really ripe fruit, as well as other nuances of choosing an avocado.
Peculiarities
This exotic fruit, which grows on Perseus americana trees, can look different: have an oval, spherical or pear-shaped shape. The shades of the peel are different and depend on the place of growth: from pale green to almost black. In the section, a stone is visible, which can occupy about half of the entire fruit, and light yellow pulp of an oily texture.
There are three groups into which all avocados are divided: Mexican, Guatemalan, West Indian. Of the 400 varieties of this exotic fruit on the shelves of our country, only three varieties are usually found: "California", "Florida" and "Pinkerton". The first one represents the Guatemalan group. These are the same almost black Haas avocados with very soft and oily contents.
In addition to being used as a sandwich butter on its own, Haas works well in sauces, soups, and smoothies. As a rule, the fruits of this variety go on sale hard, otherwise they will quickly deteriorate.
"Haas"
"Florida" variety or "Hall" refers to the West Indian group. It often rains in its homeland, so such fruits have a fresher, sweeter taste, and the pulp is more watery. Smooth, light green, they are difficult to peel, have a medium-sized kernel, and the percentage of pulp in them is quite high. Hall's pulp does not fall apart when cut, so it is great for making rolls and salads. They are usually sold in winter.
"Pinkerton" in its properties is a cross between the other two varieties. Soups, smoothies, desserts are prepared from it. To some, its taste resembles meat, which is why it has gained popularity among vegetarians. Fruit is used instead of meat in various dishes. Important advantages of Pinkerton are its small bone and ease of cleaning; you can remove the peel from a ripe fruit with your hands.
"Pinkerton"
"Floridian"
How to choose?
As you have already learned, the choice of avocados largely depends on what kind of dish you want to cook from it. Different varieties have different properties. Now let's decide how to understand when buying a ripe fruit in front of us or not.
- The first thing to do is to press on the skin of the fruit. It should shrink a little, and then return to its original shape. If the fruit is unripe, then when pressed, the peel does not bend - it will need to be held for several days until ripening. On overripe fruits, on the contrary, dents remain.
- If you shake the fruit, you can hear the sound from the bone. If you didn’t hear anything like that, it means that the fruit is still too unripe or of poor quality.
- We determine the quality of the fruit in appearance. Examine the skin of the "alligator pear". It should have a uniform color without spots and dots. External damage is also undesirable.
Remember these simple rules - with the help of them you will choose only the most delicious avocados.
Finding a ripe, but not yet spoiled avocado is a great success. Most often, unripe specimens are on the shelves, so sellers insure themselves against losses, because ripe fruits quickly deteriorate. At home, they need to be kept in a cool place for a couple of days to let them ripen.
How ripe the fruit is in front of you will tell the pulp under the handle. Cut it off and look at its color. If the flesh inside is dark, then it is overripe, if there is black inside, it has deteriorated, if it is bright green, it has not ripened. The best color option is green with brown streaks.
Many do not try to check the condition of the fetus when they buy it, and even when they begin to clean it. The fact that the fruit is unripe becomes clear only in the process of eating. Too hard pulp and its bitter taste indicate that the fruit clearly has not reached the desired condition.
If the fruit looks elongated in place of the stalk, then it ripened on a tree, in vivo, and will be very good. Eat it right away before it goes bad, and keep only unripe fruit for storage.
Here are a few more tricks that alligator pear lovers should know.
- When you see that the fruit should lie down for another day or two, but you want to eat or cook it right now, put it in the oven for a few minutes. So the pulp will become softer and tastier. Cut it before large pieces, sprinkle with lemon so that it does not darken and salt.
- If you have a night to ripen, then there is such a simple way: put the avocado in a paper bag along with bananas. Apples and pears are also suitable. It is believed that they can accelerate maturation, since they release a gas - ethylene.
- How to store chopped fruit. Place the pieces in the refrigerator in an airtight container with half an onion to help preserve freshness and color. You can also grate them with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. This will extend the life of the slices for at least a day. It is important not to store them in bowls of water - this will lead to rapid spoilage.
- Your avocado is overripe and no longer edible. Don't rush to throw it away. From the pulp you can make an excellent hair mask. Gather it up and distribute it through your hair with a sparse comb. After that, wash your hair thoroughly with shampoo.
What variety is on the diet?
For fans of a healthy lifestyle and even avocado vegetarians - the most valuable product. Even though it is a fruit, it contains a lot of protein. If we talk about people on a diet, then the overseas fruit becomes one of the products of choice for them. After all, adhering to a modest diet, they often receive less vitamins and nutrients.
"Haas" and "Pinkerton" are the most high-calorie - their the nutritional value can reach 380 kcal per 100 grams of product. Despite the fact that all varieties of avocados have a low glycemic index(10 units), such a calorie content will not bring you closer to the goal - a slender body. Best for diet food fit their Florida counterparts. Watery, tender and sweetish, they perfectly quench thirst and saturate the body with vitamins and microelements.
How to clean?
Usually avocados are cut lengthwise into two parts and the halves are turned in the opposite direction. After that, the bone is immediately removed from it, since it contains many toxins and, when interacting with air, they are actively released into the pulp of the fetus. A ripe specimen can be eaten directly from the resulting "boats" with a teaspoon.
Also, a ripe fruit can be peeled like this: make incisions on the halves that reach the peel, but do not pierce it through. After that, the halves are easily turned inside out, and the pulp is peeled off into a plate.
Unripe fruits, especially the Florida variety, cannot be peeled in this way - a potato peeler will help in the fight against a dense, stubborn peel. After this procedure, you can cut the fruit into pieces and use for cooking.
See the following video for how to peel and cut an avocado.
Recipes
Everyone has already heard about the cold and warm salads with this exotic product. We bring to your attention a variant of a vegetarian olivier, unusual in content and design, which is served directly in avocado halves. It will help diversify your useful menu and it will be most welcome during fasting, because it contains neither meat nor seafood. For its preparation, it is better to choose the "Florida" avocado.
Vegan Olivier
Ingredients:
- potatoes - 4 pcs.;
- carrots - 2 pcs.;
- pickled cucumbers - 2 pcs.;
- avocado - 2 pcs. (one for the sauce);
- canned peas - 100 g;
- onions - 1 pc.;
- apple - 1 pc.;
- salt and herbs to taste;
- lemon juice - 1 tbsp. l.;
- vegetable oil - 100 ml.
finely cut boiled potatoes, carrots, as well as cucumber, onion and avocado. We cut the apple very finely. Sprinkle fruit with lemon juice to prevent browning. Mix them in a bowl and add peas. Now let's prepare the sauce.
After cutting the second avocado in half, remove all the pulp from it with a spoon, without damaging the skin. Put it in a blender, add salt and lemon juice, you can sweeten a little with sugar and beat. Now add vegetable oil and repeat the procedure. Combine the ingredients with the resulting sauce and put the salad in the "boats" of the peel of the fruit.
Guacamole
Speaking of avocado dishes, one cannot ignore the sauce recipe, which is so popular in the homeland of this fruit - in Mexico. This guacamole is versatile and varied in composition. It is not difficult to prepare it, it is enough to stock up on ripe fruits. Guacamole eaten with tortillas corn tortillas), chips, crackers. In addition, this unusual side dish for meat and fish, sauce for mashed potatoes and pasta.
Ingredients:
- olive oil - 5 tbsp. l.;
- chili pepper - 2 pcs.;
- avocado - 6 pcs.;
- spices - to taste;
- shallots - 2 pcs.;
- lime - 2 pcs.;
- cilantro - 2 bunches.
Divide the avocado into two halves and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. Beat with a mixer until puree is formed. Remove the seeds from the chile and chop with a knife. Also finely chop the onion and herbs. Pour the lime juice into the resulting mass and combine it with olive oil and stir well.
Original, refined and beautiful appetizer julienne in avocado. You can’t call this dish dietary, but it is great option for holidays and special occasions. You won't need much time to prepare it, but it will surely impress your household or guests.
Julienne with mushrooms and avocado
Ingredients:
- avocado - 1 pc.;
- champignons - 200 g;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- cream 20% - 150 ml;
- grated cheese and spices to taste.
Cut the fruit of medium ripeness into two "boats" and remove the core. Carefully scoop out the pulp with a small knife or spoon and mash lightly. Fry the onion, mushrooms and avocado contents in oil for 5 minutes, pour over the cream. Salt and pepper, leave the mass to languish over low heat for about 5 minutes.
It remains to put it all in halves, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 180 degrees. In 10 minutes, the exotic julienne will be ready.
Fat Burning Cocktail
It is very sweet but low in calories. All thanks to strawberries and honey - they make this drink as appetizing as a dessert. To keep slim, drink it instead of breakfast every morning.
Whatever your usual diet, exotic avocado will definitely help you to add variety to it. It can be light snacks, nutritious drinks and complex gastronomic masterpieces worthy of a restaurant menu. Choose fruits suitable variety and the degree of maturity, and feel free to start experimenting.
I am always perplexed - in our stores, avocado fruits are sold mostly unfit for consumption. But someone is buying up these mountains of avocados!
1. In the store: Lightly press the avocado with your fingers. It should be slightly soft. Very hard avocados are often sold - they have pulp like wood, this is not at all the same. The avocado should not be rotten, not have transparent semi-liquid spots on the skin, but it should be soft - slightly succumb to the finger like a ripe peach.
2. Peel the avocado: cut it in half, cutting through to the bone.
Can be cut into quarters. Gently break into cuts, remove parts from the bone - they are removed easily if you bought a RIPE avocado fruit. Throw away the bone. Remove the skin from an avocado - it is removed very easily and completely if you bought a RIPE avocado fruit.
The pulp of a truly ripe avocado fruit is simply wonderful - soft, oily, with a light, fresh, unique aroma. Avocado, like cucumber, has a neutral taste, only in cucumber it is watery-fresh, and in avocado it is oily-fresh.
Avocados, like cucumbers, go well with soft white salted cream cheese or white soft salted cheese spread. You can put such cheese on bread, on top of a slice of avocado pulp - this is the food of the gods!
Like cucumber, avocado pairs well with shrimp and other seafood.
Try simple salad: peeled boiled and cooled king prawns mix with avocado slices and chopped lettuce, pour over pink sauce ( pink sauce: mayonnaise + ketchup in a ratio of 50:50).
Avocado is good to cook sauces for salads and hot, whipping its pulp in a blender with 10% cream and various flavorings - spices, seasonings, fried mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, etc.
stuffed avocado- do not throw away the avocado skin halves, prepare a salad using the avocado pulp and other finely chopped ingredients - and fill the avocado skin halves with this salad. Top with greens and chopped egg.
Enjoy the tasty and healthy avocado fruit!
Avocado, a fruit that is very often used in European cuisine. It is added to sauces, salads, stuffed, rolls are made from it, eaten raw. Apart from palatability it is low in calories. Let's take a closer look at the advice of professionals on how to choose the right ripe fruits in the store.
Some general information about avocados
There are over 400 varieties of this fruit. But only three come to our stores:
- California variety. It has brown skin and soft flesh. It makes amazing soups, mashed potatoes, pasta for sandwiches, cocktails. This variety is sold throughout the year. Be careful, under the dark skin, sometimes you can not see dents and stains.
- Florida avocado. It has a light green color and a denser pulp. Its skin is thin, so if you plan to eat it raw, you will have to use a knife. It is used for making salads, rolls, and due to its low calorie content, it is introduced into the main diet during the diet.
- Variety Pinkerton. It is distinguished by a dark green color and finely pimply skin. It has a small bone, compared to the Florida variety, which means more pulp. Considered the most the best variety for rolls.
Avocado contains a large number of vitamin E - protecting cells from aging. The use of this fruit will reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, improve memory and lower blood cholesterol.
- First you need to make a visual inspection. It is necessary to carefully check the fruit for stains, depressions, rot and other damage. We look at the color of the skin, fruits with a darker color are usually ripe.
Attention! Keep in mind that there are many types of avocados whose skin color varies from dark green to brownish. If you don't know what kind is on sale, don't buy the largest fruit. Some types are dark green in color and have a large seed, so choosing a large avocado will result in little pulp.
- Lightly press on the fruit. If the pulp was a little sold, but quickly restored the structure, then the fruit is ripe, if it is very hard, it is not ripe. If, after pressing, the dent does not recover, then the avocado is overripe.
Advice! unripe avocado will ripen in 3-4 days when stored at home.
- The ripeness of the fruit is possible with the help of a bone. It is not necessary to cut the fruit in the store, just shake the fruit over your ear. If you hear the bone tapping, the avocado is ripe and delicious. If no matter how you shake, there are no sounds, do not buy such a fruit, it is still green and underripe.
In the event that you bought an avocado, but are not sure of its ripeness, then you can cut off the stalk and see what color the cut will become:
- a brown trail indicates that the fruit is overripe;
- yellow-green color means that the fruit is not ripe;
- a bright green cut, slightly moist and slightly soft - a sign of a perfectly ripe fruit.
Advice! If you do not plan to immediately eat the fruit after this procedure, drip lemon juice on the incision so that it does not quickly darken.
How to store avocados after purchase
Ripe fruit is stored in the refrigerator for 2 to 5 days. The main thing is that it should lie separately from bananas and apples. The best place- the last shelf of the refrigerator compartment, and make sure that the fruit does not lie next to the back wall, because. may be overwhelmed.
What to do if you bought an unripe fruit
You should not eat such a fruit, it must be left to ripen. To do this, put the avocado in a paper bag and wrap it in a towel. In this form, the fruits should be stored in a dark place, with room temperature, for example, in the closet. Depending on how ripe the fruit was, it needs to be kept for 2-10 days. Adding a banana or apple to the bag will help speed up ripening. The fact is that these fruits emit ethylene, which helps the accelerated ripening of avocados.
