How To Pick an Avocado Without Bruises: The Secret You’ll Want To Know
Sneak Preview: Do you know how to pick an avocado without bruises, especially from a discount grocery store? Keep reading for secrets that I hope you find helpful.
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Sometimes, it seems like buying an avocado is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get.
I used to find it impossible to bring home an avocado unpocked with dark spots and bruises under that dark, leathery coat. Talk about frustration, especially when I need good avocados to round out the menu.
Disclaimer: My avocado-picking secret will not work in all situations. If you need to make guacamole tonight, go to a more expensive store (with less traffic). Choose a small place where everybody has not already pressed their fingers on the delicate surface of a perfectly ripe avocado. Unfortunately, this innocent crime often leads to bruises.
There’s also no telling how often those tough-looking avocados have rolled out of the bin onto the hard cement or tiled floor and taken a few good bounces.
If you like to keep avocados on hand, try my secret and buy them regularly, so you’ll always have perfectly ripe, bruise-less, and ready-to-eat avocados in your fridge.
How to pick an avocado without bruises:
- Buy your avocados at least 3-5 days before you anticipate using them.
This will give your avocados time for the ripening process - Choose the hard avocados at the store. They are often hard at discount grocery stores like Aldi, Winco, or Walmart. If they have no hard ones, I pass. Being hard naturally protects them from over-zealous shoppers/squeezers and bouncing around on the floor. How about the store clerk who dumps a few avocados left in one box on top of those in another container to save room and consolidate? Ouch, ouch, bruise, bruise.
- Look for dark green skin on the avocado. Generally, the skin turns black as the avocado ripens.
- Bring them home and store them in a bowl in plain view on your kitchen counter. That way you won’t forget about them. Then, apply slight pressure with your fingertips near the stem every day to evaluate the stage of ripeness. The firmness of the avocado should compare to applying pressure with your thumb to the palm of your hand.
When the ripening avocados start to give a bit under gentle pressure close to the stem, move them to your fridge. Generally, they are soft enough to use in 2-3 days, but this can vary, so test each one. They will stop ripening when chilled. - Once refrigerated, they are usually suitable for a week. I purchased the avocados pictured at the top of this post six days before I sliced them. I didn’t see any bad spots or bruises.
FAQ about Picking Avocados:
I’ve tried several methods. A jar of water works best for me. Place a cut avocado half with the seed still in it inside a pint jar or container. Fill with water until it covers the avocado and store in the refrigerator. Use within 1-2 days.
When you get ready to eat it, you may observe the very top layer of the avocado flesh seems a bit water-logged. But when eating mashed avocado on avocado toast, for example, I don’t notice it. 
Place the avocado in a brown paper bag with an apple or banana. The ethylene gas those fruit release will encourage the avocados to ripen faster.
Oh, this is frustrating. I’m told these avocados were picked from the avocado trees too soon.
Since I shop about once a week, I pick up several hard avocados every time I go to keep good avocados on hand.
Happy avocado-eating!
Recipes that use avocados:
If you have questions or suggestions, email me privately for a quick answer: Paula at saladinajar.com. Hope to see you again soon!
Paula Rhodes, author
I’m a retired home economist, wife, mother, grandmother, and creator of Saladinajar.com. I believe you don’t have to be a chef to find joy in creating homemade food worth sharing. Here you’ll find time-saving tips, troubleshooting advice, and confidence-inspiring recipes to make life in the kitchen more fun, appetizing, and satisfying.