by Rosemarie Quintal

Created on: April 02, 2010

   The best way to tell if an avocado is ripe is to pick it from a net it fell into from your tree or your neighbor's or community avocado tree. Avocados that fall from their tress not blown off prematurely because of the wind are ready to eat. How they change their specific gravity to know when they are ripe to fall remains a mystical question not even science wants to investigate. If you are growing avocados and they fall before they are ripe and it is not windy, your tree needs more water and nutrition. If you are living in a tropical climate with bananas or can find banana stalks mulching with the banana stals and leave swwill also cushion the fall of the avocado when it ripens if you do not have a net or do not want to install one.

   Hass avocados turn brown but if you live in an area where farmers let their haws avocados ripen on the tree the slightly soft test also works for them. If you let tree ripened avocados turn brown they will be too ripe but still edible.

   Fuerte and Bacon avocados are smaller than Hass avocados but not their fruit is not as dense. The skins of both these avocaods are lighter medium green and the skins are smooth. Fuerte and Bacon avocaods smash when they fall so you must have some ability at judging their ripeness.

   Pressing lightly and quickly on each end of an avocado can determine if it is ripe or needs to sit a few more days. If you buy an avocado and it is not ripe within one week it will never become ripe and you need to pry it open without injuring yourself which could be challenging and boil the fruit into a soup. Knowing how to pick a able to ripen avocado takes practice and is not impossible. Similar to honeydew melons whose ends become soft but unlike honeydew melons that change color to yellow, ripening avocados stay the same color and their skin does not change texture.

    Hass avocados turn brown but may be ripe before they turn brown if left on the tree until they fall. Brown dry areas indicate the avocado tree did not have enough water or that the avocado rubbed against another avocado and is not the indicator of ripeness.  These dry brown patches lose the usual Hass avocado pebbly texture they are dry and smooth patches. Brown color at the top could indicate rot. The truly brown Hass ripened avocado turns a deep maroon brown. The fruit is very soft however by that stage of ripeness.

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