Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means that Buzzy Kitchen earns commission from purchases made – at absolutely no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting Buzzy Kitchen!
Avocados are a great addition to your diet if you’re on the hunt for healthier foods to eat. Loaded with nutrients and one of the best natural sources of monounsaturated fats, it seems to have risen in popularity over recent years – but would you know how to tell if an avocado is good and safe to eat without cutting into it and having a look inside?
Let’s find out how many of these tips and facts you already know…
How to Tell if an Avocado is Good Without Cutting It
You can often tell how ripe an avocado is by the way it looks, without the need to cut into it and potentially waste a not-ripe-yet fruit.
The colour of an avocado will turn darker as it ripens, from a lighter, brighter green shade to a darker green one. You can also sometimes see small patches of a brown colour. These are perfectly normal.
Photo by Nur Afni Setiyaningrum on Unsplash
You can also physically feel when avocados ripen. When they are not ripe, they are quite hard to the touch.
When they are ripening, however, they get softer. You can press down on the skin with your fingers and create a little indent.
How to Tell if an Avocado is Ripe By the Stem
Another way to check whether or not your avocado is ripe and good to eat is to look at the stem, or where the stem was. There is usually a little brown section there, like a little hump of sorts.
If you can pull that little brown hump off and reveal a little of the bright green flesh hiding inside, your avocado is ripe enough to enjoy.
Photo [edited] by Glen Carrie on Unsplash
How Long Does it Take for an Avocado to Ripen?
Lots of things will affect how long it takes your avocado to ripen, including how ripe/unripe it was when you bought it, how you store it when you get it home, and more.
At room temperature, a relatively firm avocado will usually take 3 to 5 days to properly ripen.
How Long Does it Take for an Avocado to Ripen in the Fridge?
Cool temperatures slow down the ripening process for avocados, so if you want yours to last longer after your shopping delivery arrives, pop them in the fridge.
At room temperature, a relatively firm avocado will usually take 4 to 7 days to properly ripen.
Can You Eat an Avocado That Isn’t Ripe?
You could eat an avocado that isn’t ripe, but it likely won’t taste all that nice. The texture won’t be up to much, either.
Avocados that aren’t ripe yet have basically no flavour whatsoever. They are also quite hard and chewy. The softness and flavour of the fruit doesn’t develop until they start to ripen. The more ripe it is, the softer it will be and the more flavour it will have.
How to Tell if an Avocado is Overripe
You can tell whether or not an avocado has gone past its peak point without cutting into it, too. Once again, it comes down to the colour of the avocado skin.
The colour of the skin will continue to change all the while the avocado ripens, becomes fully ripe, and then goes past its prime. The bright green will turn dark green, indicating that it is ripe. It will then continue to get darker, until it is a very, very dark green, almost black shade. In some cases, it can almost have a purple tinge to it.
When the skin turns super dark, the avocado is starting to turn overripe.
Photo by Wimber Cancho on Unsplash
As well as a change in colour, avocados will also change in general appearance and texture. Little sunken dips will start to appear, often darker than their surroundings. Cracks can also start to show in the skin, alongside little splits and cracks. These are a sign that things are not good underneath the surface, and it is probably time to dispose of your now-bad avocado.
You can also tell from having a physical feel of the avocado whether or not the fruit is overripe. If it feels soft and smushy – too soft and smushy – under your fingertips when you press down on it, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s overripe and will have started to change flavour.
Can You Eat an Overripe Avocado?
It is not recommended to eat an overripe avocado.
It likely won’t cause you any serious discomfort, but overripe avocados are just as unpleasant to eat as underripe ones are. When they are more smushy than soft, and the skins are more black than green, you have an avocado that will taste very bitter and has a sludgy, mushy consistency.
You could eat it, if you wanted to… but you probably wouldn’t.
Hopefully, you will now know how to tell if an avocado is good just by looking and feeling it, without the need to cut into it and potentially waste a perfectly good fruit.
