If you grow your own avocados, you might be wondering… when are they ready to pick? It’s not as simple as giving your fruit a squeeze while they’re on the tree. Because the thing is, avocados actually ripen OFF the tree. Here’s how to tell when your avocados are ready to pick (and how to ripen them faster).
How to tell when an avocado is ripe
The best way to tell whether your fruit is ready for harvest is to pick one nice, large, dark avocado from your tree, and then leave it out on the counter at room temperature. At this point, the thing is rock hard. You can practically use it as a pestle for your mortar, or even a weapon for self-defense. Have you ever dropped an unripe avocado on your toes? Oy, it’s not pleasant. If the fruit softens evenly within a week or so, then the rest of your avocados are good for the pickin’. If the fruit turns rubbery, shrivels up, or tastes bitter, then it isn’t quite ready yet. Keep checking every other week by picking one fruit at a time until you find an avocado that ripens to the right consistency and flavor of your liking. Once your avocados come into season, continue picking them regularly so they don’t over-mature on the tree.
How long does it take for an avocado to ripen?
The period from when an avocado is picked from a tree and when it’s perfectly ripe and ready to eat is called “softening.” The softening process takes anywhere from a few days up to a week, depending on room temperature and storage conditions. If your avocado is still rock hard after 10 days, chances are, it hasn’t fully matured yet.
How to ripen avocados faster
You can speed up the ripening process by placing your avocados in a paper bag, which helps them ripen sooner by trapping the natural off-gas that they generate (an odorless, tasteless, active plant hormone called ethylene). Avocados are climacteric fruits (right up there with apples and bananas), meaning they start to ripen off the tree through a process of ethylene production, which occurs when starch converts to sugar. This stage of climacteric signals the peak of ripeness for an avocado. If you want to speed it up even more, you can stick an apple or banana inside the bag (or any other ethylene-producing fruit, such as peppers, peaches, tomatoes… whatever you have on hand).