The avocado: a nutrient-rich, luscious green fruit that goes well in dishes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. (Possibly a late night snack as well?) I didn’t always like avocados. I remember a time when I felt quite repulsed by the sight of my sister eating avocados with spoonfuls of sugar. I have grown out of that phase in my life, as guacamole opened my eyes to the wonders of this creamy fruit. Now, I find myself eating an avocado per week.
As much as I enjoy eating avocados, I am never sure how to refrigerate them in a way that will maintain their vibrant green color. I have tried wrapping the avocado with plastic cling wrap or putting them into a container, but none of those methods have worked too well. Over the past week, I tried to locate the answer to the perennial question, “How do you keep a cut avocado fresh?”
The short answer is that no “best” method exists. I found two articles, one from the Huffington Post and one from The Kitchn about different ways to store avocados. I was glad to discover that I’m not the only person wondering about this. The two articles discuss several ways keep avocados from turning brown:
- Pit Method: leaving the pit with the avocado and wrapping it with plastic wrap [I’ve tried this before, and it doesn’t work all the time.]
- Citrus Method: leaving the pit in the avocado, rubbing the cut side with lemon or lime juice, and wrapping it in plastic wrap [Interesting method that I might try.]
- Water Method: submerging the avocado in ice cold water
- Onion Method: placing a cut avocado in a cottage cheese container with a piece of cut onion. According to The Kitchn, the onion releases sulfuric acid that helps keep the avocado from browning. This sounds a lot like the citrus method.
I decided to put the onion method to the test, and here were my results:
I was quite happy with the onion method after day 1, as the avocado looked quite fresh. By day 2, however, the avocado started to brown. The avocado picked up its color again in day 3, but that was probably because I shaved off the browned parts for lunch in day 2. You may be wondering how was I able to keep myself from devouring the entire avocado sooner. I’m wondering that myself.
Overall, I think that the onion method is fine for storing avocados, but there was still some browning. I should probably put it in a smaller container next time.
Q: How do you keep your avocados fresh in the refrigerator?
Tony says
I remove the pit, but wrap in air tight plastic. I think the answer is that once you cut it, you need to eat it all in a day or two.
Lisa says
Thanks for the tip, Tony! I’m going to try that with the next avocado I eat.
Felicia Campbell says
I cut the avocado in half. leave the pit in the half I don’t use and cover with the empty skin of the half that I used. A tiny bit of brown which is easily scraped off may form, but this method works really well.
Lisa says
Thanks for sharing, Felicia! I’ll have to try that next time!
Alegra Marques says
The best I have found to keep avocados from browning is a generous squeeze of lime juice and wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap so no air gets to it. I will have to try putting onion with it, too.
Lisa says
I’ve read about that method before. Do you taste the lime juice when you eat the avocado?
Denise says
Leave pit in. Wrap the half TIGHTLY with foil, smoothing it over the pit and flat edges. Put the wrapped half in a heavy ziplock bag (the freezer kind). This works every time for me. I can leave it in the fridge for 2 or 3 days and still get a nice green color when I unwrap it.