How best to ripen avocado

About consuming fruits; fresh, dried or juiced.
Post Reply
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
https://cutt.ly/meble-kuchenne-wroclaw
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

How best to ripen avocado

Post by Mr. PC »

My tried and true method has always been avocado in a paper page with bananas (and maybe some other fruit I want to ripen). It works really well.

However, where I'm currently living, paper bags actually don't exist. People at the shop look at my like I've got 2 heads...

I've read some other ways, and will explain my understanding, which is most likely wrong.

Plastic bags cause ethylene gas to build up too quickly, while also inhibiting CO2 and O2 airflow, giving an unevenly ripe and likely gross avocado.

Flour - every source I read says this makes the most delicious avocado (somehow). Either putting it in a paper bag with 2" of flour, or completely covering it with flour. I'm nervous to do this as I had a weevil infestation when I moved into this new apartment (recently)... and don't want any grains / flour etc. in my home. Though I'm tempted to buy some flour, put some bay-leaves in it (which appearently deter weevils), and try.
http://mykitchenslicer.com/tips-and-tri ... do-quickly

Sunlight - apparently increases the amount of ethylene the avocado produces (some sources say it can ripen in hours).

So personally I'm thinking I could buy some kind of air-tight (weevil proof) glass container, and put it on the balcony where the sunlight can ripen it with a banana. Wondering if the flour only helps by cushioning the avocado... one sources says it works by trapping the ethelene, but also wisking away moisture, so maybe Silica packs?!. Apparently the sunlight only ripens fruits by warming them up; so maybe putting it on a (cold) balcony would defeat the purpose?

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/bananas-ne ... 75153.html

This last link suggests that ripening the avocado too quickly makes it taste bland; does anyone have experience here? I think ripening an avocado quickly is ideal, and will work on a quick-ripening system in that case, but tasteless avocados are not ideal.

So glass avocado aquarium on a silica pillow and banana? Seems like overkill, but avocados are precious, and based on my franken-science-google theory, this should make the most wonderfully perfect avocados.

Thoughts?

{{edit. A much simpler version could be a ziplock bag + banana + silica pack. If the only downside of the bag is too much moisture, then we could counteract is using silica?}}

{{I also read that UV rays kill bacteria on the avocado surface, keeping is fresh for longer, so + for franken-aquarium}}
User avatar
Aytundra
Posts: 1716
Joined: Sun 26 Feb 2012 18:33
Contact:

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Aytundra »

Mr. PC wrote: Thu 12 Apr 2018 19:45 However, where I'm currently living, paper bags actually don't exist. People at the shop look at my like I've got 2 heads...
Head: "Ou a la sachet papier?"
Shop keeper: "?"
Head: " "Pour la green aubergine!"
Shop keeper: "??!"
Head 1: "Wherrre does he live?"
Head 2: "Hee lyvez inn ah tundra!"
Head 1: "Wherrre will we be without trrrees?"
Head 2: "Noh moar chatterin! Neat vert eggplant!"
-----
Can't you get a newspaper and origame it into a box or bag?
A tundra where will we be without trees? Thannnks!
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Mr. PC »

I've been thinking about using paper-towel, actually. Maybe a newspaper (would the ink not be a problem?) Part of me is still worried about weevils, although I know they don't eat fruit, and I'm 99% sure they're gone, the traumatic experience moving in has made me paranoid.

I've got an avocado with 2 bananas in a plastic bag with a silica pack right now, so we'll see how that experiment goes. I did notice wetness inside the plastic bag earlier, so I inverted it, putting the wet-side outside and dry-side inside.

Maybe putting paper-towel inside the plastic bag would help absorb moisture?
User avatar
Oscar
Administrator
Posts: 4350
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2005 00:01

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Oscar »

I curious to see the results of your experiments :)
User avatar
Aytundra
Posts: 1716
Joined: Sun 26 Feb 2012 18:33
Contact:

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Aytundra »

How about putting your avocado and banana in a bowl of fine salt/sand?
Salt/sand is small so it might act like the small flour particles.
While the banana, gives off gas.
A tundra where will we be without trees? Thannnks!
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Mr. PC »

I took the avocado / banana out of the plastic bag. It was getting damp inside (though not as damp as it had been when I tried without a silica pack.

I can try doing the bowl with salt... I guess salt would also kill any bacteria / be clean/reusable. So maybe a salt-bed in a bowl is a good idea. Moisture could still be an issue here... so either covering the bowl in paper, or plastic wrap (hoping the silica pack and salt are enough to absorb moisture in the bowl).
User avatar
Aytundra
Posts: 1716
Joined: Sun 26 Feb 2012 18:33
Contact:

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Aytundra »

Take a picture of before and after, of your experiments.
A tundra where will we be without trees? Thannnks!
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Mr. PC »

The bowl was sweating, so I took off the plastic. Started pouring in the salt I bought, and there are little specs in the salt. I'm really paranoid about bugs after my recent infestation. Any chance these are sale bugs?
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Aytundra
Posts: 1716
Joined: Sun 26 Feb 2012 18:33
Contact:

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Aytundra »

Dab a circle of olive oil around the bowl on the table. It might prevent ants from entering into your bowl space. Maybe it will prevent other insects.
Oleic acid is a smell ants hates.
A tundra where will we be without trees? Thannnks!
User avatar
Aytundra
Posts: 1716
Joined: Sun 26 Feb 2012 18:33
Contact:

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Aytundra »

It could be impurities in the salt.
Did the salt look like that in the box? or did it look like that after you have left it out in the bowl?
What kind of salt do you use?
Image
http://thecentristreport.com/plastic-sea-salt/
Searching about impurities in salt, led me to an article about plastics in sea salt.
A tundra where will we be without trees? Thannnks!
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Mr. PC »

Mine was just regular plane salt (came in a bag, not a box); the cheapest stuff in the store.

It looked like this in the bag.
User avatar
Aytundra
Posts: 1716
Joined: Sun 26 Feb 2012 18:33
Contact:

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Aytundra »

Mr. PC wrote: Wed 18 Apr 2018 19:18 Mine was just regular plane salt (came in a bag, not a box)
Hhe,
it didn't even come with a cardboard box huh?

The plane salt was probably flown in by an airplane.
Out of curiosity, I bet you wood not be able to find a boxed food item in the store to take a picture of.
A tundra where will we be without trees? Thannnks!
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: How best to ripen avocado

Post by Mr. PC »

They did have boxed food items, but the salt was simply in bags.
Post Reply