Avocados can be a finicky fruit to store, but if you follow these simple tips, you can keep them fresh and brown-free for longer
Avocados are infamous for going off quickly, meaning you need to catch them at just the right moment of ripeness. Once they hit that sweet spot, the trick is keeping them fresh for as long as you can.
The second you slice into an avocado, the clock starts ticking. Leave it out too long and it’ll turn from bright green to an unappetising brown.
Whilst a browned avocado might technically still be safe to eat, it’s hardly ideal for your guacamole or smashed avo on toast.
But according to Amy Cross, a food storage expert and author of The Cross Legacy blog, there are ways to keep avocados fresher for far longer than you’d think.
In a YouTube Shorts clip, Amy revealed two clever storage hacks – one for halved avocados and another for whole ones, reports the Express.
For a halved avocado, Amy said: “An avocado cut in half with a metal lid will stay fresh for about a week after you cut it.”
When it comes to whole avocados, whilst many people leave them on the worktop, she insisted they can remain fresh for up to 28 days when kept with lemons in the fridge drawer.
Amy said: “If you store whole avocados in your crisper drawer with a lemon, they will stay fresh for a month from when you first buy them.”
Crisper drawers, sometimes called humidity drawers, sit at the bottom of your fridge and are specially designed for storing fresh fruit and veg, offering a more humid environment than the rest of the appliance.
These drawers, when used properly, can extend the freshness of your fruits and veggies.
So, why should you pair avocados with lemons?
It appears that the ethylene gas emitted by citrus fruits can slightly delay spoilage, keeping your avocados fresher for longer.
Got a hankering for avocado toast but your avocado isn’t ripe yet?
There’s a trick to speed up the ripening process.
Just pop your avocado with some fruits or vegetables that release ethylene, a gas known to accelerate ripening.
You can team your avocado with an apple or banana in a brown bag, or simply nestle the avocado under bananas in your fruit bowl.
