Tips & Techniques > How To Buy and Store Avocados

To buy ripe avocados, look for ones that are relatively firm but yield slightly when gentle pressure is applied to the very top or bottom. There is a fairly short window between ripe and overly-ripe avocados, so ripe avocados should be used immediately. To extend the shelf life of ripe avocados, you can place them into the refrigerator for a few days.

When buying avocados in advance of using them, look for avocados that are still quite firm to the touch. The harder they are, the longer they will take to ripen. To ripen the avocados, store them at room temperature for a couple of days.
Alternatively, you can place them into the refrigerator but the ripening process will take longer. Some say, however, that ripening in the refrigerator will produce more evenly-ripened avocados.

To speed up the ripening process, you can also place the avocados into a brown paper bag or wrap them in newspaper. To accelerate the process even more, place an apple into the bag along with avocados.

To prevent or at least help to slow the browning of avocados once they have been cut into, simply rub with a bit of lemon or lime juice. Refer to the topic called “Enzymatic Browning of Fruits and Vegetables” from the lesson on “How to Preserve Vegetable Pigments” in the Cooking School.