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Finding a perfectly ripe avocado at the supermarket is a rare occurrence, as avocados don’t ripen while on the tree and must be picked to begin the ripening process.
If you have an underripe avocado, it can take anywhere from overnight to four or five days to ripen once you bring it home.
The ripening time depends on how firm the avocado is when you purchase it. The firmer it is, the longer it will take to ripen.
If only firm, unripe avocados are available, there are ways to speed up the ripening process, and according to BBC Good Food, the best trick “harnesses nature’s methods”.
Simply place your avocado in a paper or cloth bag (avoid plastic) along with a banana, which emits high levels of ethylene gas.
Leave it for two to three days to ripen, although very firm avocados may take up to four or five days.
The bag helps to concentrate the ethylene gas, speeding up the ripening process. If you put an avocado in a bag by itself, it will still ripen, but it may take a couple of days longer.
Once your avocado is ripe, it will stay fresh for about two days on the counter or up to four or five days in the refrigerator before it starts to deteriorate.
Two other methods to speed up avocado ripening are not as effective as placing them with fruit in a paper bag: covering the avocado with flour in a paper bag and covering it with rice in a paper bag.
Both techniques assert that they trap ethylene gas and draw away moisture that could cause the avocado to mould.
However, mould is typically not a problem for avocados ripening at room temperature, and neither method accelerated the ripening process any more than simply leaving the avocado on the counter.
Another method that simply softens the avocado – but not technically ripen – involves placing it in the oven until it achieves the right consistency.
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Wrap an avocado in foil and bake, checking every 10 minutes, until the avocado is soft enough to use.
