How to Ripen Avocados: 5 Techniques for Ripening Avocados

Avocados are pear-shaped fruits with bumpy, dark green skin and light green flesh, with one large pit in the center. The fruit has a creamy texture and a mild buttery or nutty flavor that compliments many dishes.

Avocados—native to Central and South America—are single-seed berries, making them a fruit. However, avocados are used as culinary vegetables due to their flavor, which is more savory than sweet.

There are three traits to check when determining the ripeness of a fresh avocado: texture, color, and firmness.

1. 1. Texture: Avocados have tiny bumps on the outer layer that can indicate the fruit’s ripeness. The texture of a ripe avocado should be slightly bumpy. Underripe avocados have a smooth texture with a few bumps, while overripe ones have an overly bumpy texture. (It’s important to note that different varieties of avocados have bumpier skin than others.)
2. 2. Color: The exterior color of an avocado can also indicate whether it’s ripe. When avocados are ripe, they take on a dark-green color, underripe options have a bright-green hue and require a few more days to ripen, and those nearer to black are likely overripe. Hass avocados undergo a more noticeable change in color during the ripening period than other types of avocados.
3. 3. Firmness: Check the firmness of your avocado by placing it in the palm of your hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. A ripe avocado is not too hard or soft and should still feel firm and have a slight give. If the avocado is rock hard, then it’s underripe. If the avocado is mushy and bends with your hand, then it’s overripe.

Depending on its firmness and color, a fresh avocado can take one to seven days to ripen naturally. Avocados that are hard and green take five to seven days to ripen, while hard, dark-green options can take anywhere from one to three days. If your avocado is already ripe, but you’re not ready to consume it, store it in the refrigerator for up to two days to slow down the ripening process.

If you need your avocados to ripen quickly, you can try different methods to speed up the ripening process, including:

1. 1. Leave it on a countertop. If you’re not in a rush to incorporate the avocado into a quick salad or spread it across a slice of toast, simply leave it on the countertop or place it in a bowl with other fruit to ripen naturally over a few days. Some fruits, such as ripe bananas, kiwi, pears, peaches, and mangoes, produce ethylene gas, a hormone that stimulates the ripening process by amping up sugar production, which softens the fruit. Avocados also produce ethylene gas, so you can place them in a bowl with other fruits and vegetables to facilitate the ripening process, which should take anywhere from three to five days, depending on their firmness.
2. 2. Place it in a brown paper bag. Place the avocados in a brown paper bag to ripen within a day or two. Add another unripened fruit to the bag to produce more ethylene gas, which will become concentrated in the paper bag, speeding up the ripening process.
3. 3. Wrap it in tin foil. Wrapping an underripe avocado in tin foil has the same effect as placing it in a brown paper bag. The tin foil locks in the ethylene gas, speeding up the ripening time.
4. 4. Soften it in the microwave. If you need to use an unripe avocado immediately, you can ripen it in the microwave, which helps soften the fruit. Before heating your avocado in the microwave, you’ll need to cut it in half and remove the pit. Cover the cut avocado with microwave-safe plastic wrap to help concentrate the ethylene gas that will release as it cooks. Set the microwave on medium heat and warm the avocado in 30-second intervals until it achieves your desired softness.
5. 5. Soften it in the oven. You can also use the oven to speed up the ripening process for a rock-hard avocado. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, then cut the avocado in half and wrap it in foil. Once the oven is ready, place the avocado on the top shelf for 15 minutes. If the avocado is still too hard after this period, continue heating it in five-minute increments while closely monitoring it to prevent overripening.

The best way to tell whether an avocado has gone bad is to refer to the feel and color of the fruit. Overripe avocados are black and mushy, while too-soft options may have already begun to spoil. If you can’t determine whether the interior is soft or not, slice the avocado in half to check its hue: Ripe avocados have yellowish-green interiors, whereas spoiled avocados have brownish-black insides. Black streaks throughout the interior can indicate that the fruit is about to spoil, and it’s time to try our simple guacamole recipe.

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