General Chat

I don't like avocados and have never bought any. OH does and when he was on holiday in Greece recently they had them every day, so I agreed to get them for him. I found some that said "ripen at home" but they were like bricks and OH said they were too small. So yesterday I found some bigger ones that said they were ripe, but they were still very hard.

I'm sure someone on here likes them, so please, how do you know whether they are ripe? :-S

Andys mum, I love Avocados and sometimes when I have received them in my online shopping, they are hard. So I leave them in the fruit bowl next to the bananas and maybe a couple of days they will soften.

When you press on them, they should be soft not hard like bricks. So gently press all over and if bits still feel hard leave it another day.

I guess they are a bit like pears as they are often rock hard and then soften before you can eat them.

They are very nutritious and good if you mash them and have them on toast or you can make a prawn cocktail and fill the middle for a starter...yummy.

I like them, but generally the ones bought in the UK need ripening and are not as nice as those found elsewhere. I ate them a lot when I lived, briefly, in USA as they sold more varieties and were tastier.

Best thing is to put avocado in a paper bag with a banana or other ripe fruit for a couple of days. The gas given off should ripen the avocado.

Oh forgot to say, to make them sit on a plate, slice a little off the bottom and then it will stay put!

Thank you both. The ones that said ripen at home have been sitting next to the bananas for a week now and are still like bricks. I guess they were too small to start with. I will buy a larger one and try the paper bag trick - I've heard of that before - and hope it works.

I can tell you a funny story about avocados; at least, 30 years on it still makes me smile.

One day mother-in-law was out shopping with her youngest daughter who was buying avocados for a dinner party she was giving the next day. Next time she was shopping mil thought she would get a couple as she had never tried them before. She took them home, peeled, stoned and sliced them and decided there wasn't enough to feed 4 of them so she mixed them with a tin of mandarin oranges and served them with custard :-D As far as she was concerned they were called avocado pears so they must be a dessert.

I have never liked them yuk!

Just had one with some prawns for lunch I prefer them with

mayonnaise on though. This one came with my Tesco delivery on Saturday and has sat in the kitchen until today. It was just right.


:-D :-D :-D Vera.

Vera, that made me chuckle and reminded me of something my own mother would have done :-D :-D :-D

I love avocados - but often they're either too hard and don't ripen, or else they look OK but are brown inside.

I haven't tried the banana trick - must give that a go.

I like them with cream cheese and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

I don't think I'd like them with custard though :-D