Avocado is a glorious food. Those folks who know it show it with complete adoration. From finding ways to incorporate avocado into every meal to showing one's love with avocado swag, fans of this green fruit are fierce.
For all you avocado devotees out there, we put together a list of the eight most essential avocado hacks because you deserve it. And because it'll help you eat even more avocado.
1. You can quickly ripen a too-hard avocado by putting it in a paper bag at room temperature. If all goes well, it can mature to perfect guacamole-making texture in a matter of days. This may not be lightning fast, but it speeds up the natural process significantly.
2. If you need an avocado to mature faster than that, add an apple, banana or pear. The fruits emit ethylene gas, a compound that promotes ripening.
3. OR, if you really can't wait, bake it in the oven. Slice the avocado, top with lemon juice, and cook at 300° for 10 minutes.
4. To preserve a perfectly ripe avocado you're not quite ready to eat, pop it in the fridge. This will slow down the ripening process.
5. However, if you've already cut into that avocado, be sure to cover it before refrigerating -- lemon juice, apple cider vinegar or good ol' fashion Saran Wrap will help keep it from turning brown.
6. If you're out of breakfast dishes or baking pans or both, just use an avocado -- this is also known as the eggocado. Just drop an egg into the hole of an avocado, bake until set and eat. Best breakfast around.
7. Get the most out of an avocado by cutting it into quarters and peeling the skin away. It's the most efficient way to eat this fruit.
8. If you're unsure whether an avocado is ready to eat, look underneath the stem. If the skin under the stem is brown, it's too ripe. If it's green, it's good to go. And if the stem doesn't come off easily, the avocado isn't ripe yet.
Now you can go on and eat lots of avocados. And we've got the recipes to help you do just that.
