Avocado ripe near surface, very not near core

[andymh...@gmail.com]

I discovered avocados this year, and have enjoyed the immensely. Learned how to ripen them in paper bags over the course of days. Been working out well until recently. Recently, my avocado's have been been appearing to become reasonably ripe in terms of surface tenderness, but when I cut them in half and try to twist them off the core, they refuse to cooperate. With enough insistence, it's not the avocado halves that twist off, but the skin itself. Since the surface is ripe, it also becomes a bit of a mushy, messy affair. I end up cutting the flayed avocado into quarters and trying to wrestle the sections off of the core. At the core they're stuck on as if crazy-glued. In fact, even as the quarters come off they take the surface of the core with them. It's another flaying exercise to get the "skin" of the core off the (no mutilated) avacado quarters. And the meat near the core is quite stiff, like a ripe but uncooked potato.

What would cause such a change in ripening behaviour? How can one get back the uniform ripening?

[pure kona]

On Sun, 1 Sep 2013 18:27:36 -0700 (PDT), andymh...@gmail.com wrote:

>I discovered avocados this year, and have enjoyed the immensely. Learned how to ripen them in paper bags over the course of days. Been working out well until recently. Recently, my avocado's have been been appearing to become reasonably ripe in terms of surface tenderness, but when I cut them in half and try to twist them off the core, they refuse to cooperate. With enough insistence, it's not the avocado halves that twist off, but the skin itself. Since the surface is ripe, it also becomes a bit of a mushy, messy affair. I end up cutting the flayed avocado into quarters and trying to wrestle the sections off of the core. At the core they're stuck on as if crazy-glued. In fact, even as the quarters come off they take the surface of the core with them. It's another flaying exercise to get the "skin" of the core off the (no mutilated) avacado quarters. And the meat near the core is quite stiff, like a ripe but uncooked potato.
>
>What would cause such a change in ripening behaviour? How can one get back the uniform ripening?

My technique after many years, is to press in the belly button(where
the stem used to be) and if it gives enough, it is ready. Feeling it
overall doesn't seem to do the same for fresh avocados- anyway. Too
hard to tell that way. Belly button works.

aloha,
Cea

[pure kona]

On Sun, 1 Sep 2013 18:27:36 -0700 (PDT), andymh...@gmail.com wrote:

>I discovered avocados this year, and have enjoyed the immensely. Learned how to ripen them in paper bags over the course of days. Been working out well until recently. Recently, my avocado's have been been appearing to become reasonably ripe
in terms of surface tenderness, but when I cut them in half and try to
twist them off the core, they refuse to cooperate. With enough
insistence, it's not the avocado halves that twist off, but the skin
itself. Since the surface is ripe, it also becomes a bit of a mushy,
messy affair. I end up cutting the flayed avocado into quarters and
trying to wrestle the sections off of the core. At the core they're
stuck on as if crazy-glued. In fact, even as the quarters come off
they take the surface of the core with them. It's another flaying

exercise to get the "skin" of the core off the (no mutilated) avocado

quarters. And the meat near the core is quite stiff, like a ripe but
uncooked potato.
>
>What would cause such a change in ripening behaviour? How can one get back the uniform ripening?

Some varieties do not let go of their pit as well as other varieties.
Same with the skin. Just an avocado thing.

aloha,
Cea

[Jeßus]

On Sun, 1 Sep 2013 18:27:36 -0700 (PDT), andymh...@gmail.com wrote:

>I discovered avocados this year, and have enjoyed the immensely. Learned how to ripen them in paper bags over the course of days. Been working out well until recently. Recently, my avocado's have been been appearing to become reasonably ripe in terms of surface tenderness, but when I cut them in half and try to twist them off the core, they refuse to cooperate. With enough insistence, it's not the avocado halves that twist off, but the skin itself. Since the surface is ripe, it also becomes a bit of a mushy, messy affair. I end up cutting the flayed avocado into quarters and trying to wrestle the sections off of the core. At the core they're stuck on as if crazy-glued. In fact, even as the quarters come off they take the surface of the core with them. It's another flaying exercise to get the "skin" of the core off the (no mutilated) avacado quarters. And the meat near the core is quite stiff, like a ripe but uncooked potato.
>
>What would cause such a change in ripening behaviour? How can one get back the uniform ripening?

How do they actually taste? I'll wager they've been picked a bit too
early and they have a low oil content. The longer they stay on the
tree, the greater the oil content over time and the better they taste.
It's the oil that gives them that creamy taste and tenderness.

[Nunya Bidnits]

It could be the variety. Try to get Haas avocados.

MartyB

[andymh...@gmail.com]

@Cea: The next avocado won't be ready for a day or two yet, but I suspect that the belly button will be reasonably soft. That's the impression I recall from when I had to remove the stem.

However, I don't want to ignore the surface test because when I've done so in the past, the avocado was too ripe and I ended up cutting away a lot of black/brown flesh. Besides, the surface half of the flesh seems really quite ready. I'm just wondering why there is so much difference in avocados over a very small amount of time.

@JeBus: The ready part of the avocado (the 50% toward the surface, as opposed to the 50% toward the core) seems just fine. The interior 50% tastes like ripe soft-ish potato, but raw. Are you suggesting that the reason why there is such a disparity between ripening rates is because it was plucked very early?

@MaryB: Could be different avocados which explains the difference between not-too-long-ago and now. It's from the same grocery outlet, and avocados in my metropolitan neck of the woods are almost always of the Haas variety. I will double check with them.

Thanks, all.

[pure kona]

Thank you.

Haas are the commercial variety but not the best- believe me. Hawaii
is fighting hard, to have our avocados allowed to go to the mainland.
POLITICS stands in the way of you having some delicious avocados...

Just wait till you have a Sharwil or a Kahaluu or the myriad we grow.
Yummy avocados are unbelievable.

Hope it happens soon for you:).

aloha,
Cea

[sf]

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 18:11:17 -1000, pure kona
<smith...@hawaiiantel.net> wrote:
>
> Haas are the commercial variety but not the best- believe me. Hawaii
> is fighting hard, to have our avocados allowed to go to the mainland.
> POLITICS stands in the way of you having some delicious avocados...
>
> Just wait till you have a Sharwil or a Kahaluu or the myriad we grow.
> Yummy avocados are unbelievable.
>
> Hope it happens soon for you:).
>

Me too! The price of avocados is absolutely ridiculous. A normal
sized avocado is called "large" these days and a small one is
considered normal. WTF? They need some competition.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

[Je�us]

On Mon, 2 Sep 2013 13:52:19 -0700 (PDT), andymh...@gmail.com wrote:

>@JeBus: The ready part of the avocado (the 50% toward the surface, as opposed to the 50% toward the core) seems just fine. The interior 50% tastes like ripe soft-ish potato, but raw. Are you suggesting that the reason why there is such a disparity between ripening rates is because it was plucked very early?

Yes, that could be the cause. I managed a small avocado farm many
years ago, and I know from experience that any fruit picked a bit
early (when oil content may be a bit low) always tended to be as you
described. The longer the fruit is left on the tree, the higher the
oil content. The co-op we sold to would always test the fruit first
before accepting it, if the oil content was below a certain level,
they wouldn't accept it. Any fruit I left on the same tree for a few
months more always tasted creamier and didn't have that hard, rubbery
texture.

But as mentioned by others, there is quite a variation between
varieties and some of the commercial varieties are not necessarily the
best ones for taste and texture.

[Je�us]

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 18:11:17 -1000, pure kona
<smith...@hawaiiantel.net> wrote:

>Haas are the commercial variety but not the best- believe me. Hawaii
>is fighting hard, to have our avocados allowed to go to the mainland.
>POLITICS stands in the way of you having some delicious avocados...
>
>Just wait till you have a Sharwil or a Kahaluu or the myriad we grow.
>Yummy avocados are unbelievable.

I remember Sharwills. I may be out of date with current best varieties
but my favourite in the orchard I managed was Fuerte (sp). SO creamy
and soft texture... but not mushy.

[pure kona]

My friends who are avocado farmers are on your side once they are
allowed to compete! BTW:This summer's Sharwil (named for 2 avocado
people who found the self-hybridized plant and recognized its
greatness: Sharon and William) bounty has been wonderful. We have
one tree but we give them away to everyone we can. Car fix-it place,
roasted coffee customers within Hawaii, family within Hawaii etc. The
Calavo (California Avocado) PAC (political action committee) is well
funded and would not let our Hawaii avocados into CA citing fruit fly
concerns- at last I heard. But our Hawaii national Legislators are
working on the issue as I type and it all might change.

Haas if I remember correctly are kind of small with a large pit and do
cost a lot. Not too pretty on the outside either. Ours like the more
commercial Sharwil are larger, firm but creamy fruit with a small pit.
Pretty green too. Just you wait til we are able to send Hawaiian
avocados to the mainland.:):):) It will make our avocado farmers and
you customers happy. BTW-Avocados love to grow here in Kona. We have
wild trees everywhere- not all taste so good, but I see tourists
picking up those junk ones all the time, off the road.

aloha,
Cea

[andymh...@gmail.com]

Well, folks, I'm not sure if the Hawaiin avocados will make it all the way to the great white north. But now i know what to look out for. And SharWil---love the story behind the name!

Thanks JeBus for confirming the link between under-ripe plucking and the disparity in ripeness between core and surface. Maybe I should bring this up with the proprietor of the business. The pride themselves in garden produce.

[andymh...@gmail.com]

Just and update...they are indeed Haas. And I waited an extra day this time so the thing was all decidedly browns outside. That seemed to work, even though this same "rule" led to too much black flesh in the past. I suspect that it depends on where one gets one's Haas's from. The one that had too much black flesh might have come from a big box store who isn't exactly known for its fruit quality.

Thanks to all for sharing their experience.