A toast to the avocado!

Is there anything more frustrating though than going to make your avocado toast and realizing your avocados died overnight??!!?!?! It’s truly a heartbreaking situation. It seems they can age and go bad in about a nanosecond, and then we are left with a graveyard of avocados in our trash. On the flip, sometimes we get home and realize the avocados we are selected are actually hard rocks and not ripe enough yet to eat. What can we do to avoid these issues?

Here are a few tips to help you as you select an avocado from the store to maximize its life expectancy.

• It’s all about color. The darker the green of the avocado, the riper it is. If you are checking them out and realize they are almost black in color or have black speckles on the green skin, you know that baby is almost to its max shelf life.

• Squeeze it. Don’t get weird with it….but you do need to know a few things about it that involve a gentle squeeze. First of all, how does the skin feel? If it is very bumpy, that avocado is ripe. Is the avocado firm or do you feel it soften with the squeeze? If you are able to squeeze it and feel that mushy feel, it is ripe….and if you are able to leave indentations, it’s also about to be at RIP level. If it is hard as a rock, you know it won’t be ready for a few days.

• Consider when you are going to eat them when purchasing. You ideally want to purchase avocados that will be at their prime ripe stage in about 3 days. The skin will be smooth and the color of the avocado skin will be a bright green, as well as firm to the touch. If you are going to use them immediately, of course, you will want to select riper avocados with a bumpier texture and darker in color.

• EEK…..Did you make the mistake of grabbing an avocado that isn’t ripe enough, but you need it to be? Place the avocado inside a brown paper bag with a banana. The ethylene in the banana will help the avocado speed up the ripening process. You can also place it in direct sunlight on a window sill and allow the warmer temps and sun to help soften it up.

Where are my fellow avocado toast lovers? I have it for breakfast every single day and am OBSESSED with my way of making it. You’ll want to give it a try next time you are making it….here’s how I do it!

Toast up the bread of your choice. I go with sourdough always.

Add avocado, then top with red pepper flakes and a drizzle of honey!
ENJOY!

You’ll love it, I promise!