Cinco de Mayo: When is an Avocado Ripe?
If you are hosting a Cinco de Mayo
dinner or party on May 5, 2014, it pays to plan ahead. Especially when
it comes to two main ingredients essential to making salsa or guacamole
as sides to nachos, tacos, burritos and enchiladas: tomatoes and
avocados.
Chain supermarkets often have on display
tomatoes and avocados that are not fully ripe. This is done to avoid
spoilage while shipping which decreases the retail price to consumers.
So buying tomatoes and avocados several days ahead to give time for
ripening will help you pull off some awesome guacamole and salsa for Cinco de Mayo.
Many people often wonder, "How can you
tell when an avocado is ripe?" Well the answer to this is firmness. In
particular, you want to use Haas avocados for making guacamole. Haas
avocados are smaller and darker than their Florida avocado
counterparts. Other produce can help guide you in judging the ripeness
of an avocado:
If the avocado is as firm as an apple, its not ripe.
If the avocado is as firm as a tangerine, its ripe and ready to use for guacamole.
If the avocado is as firm as a peach, its overripe and may have started to rot inside.
Chances are if you wait until the day
before or the day of Cinco de Mayo, all of the perfectly ripe avocados
will have been picked through - which is just another reason to shop
early for your tomatoes and avocados.
If there are only very firm avocados
available at your grocery store, place the avocados in a paper bag with
your tomatoes and let sit for 3-5 days at room temperature. The
ethylene gas produced by the ripening tomatoes will help accelerate the
ripening of the avocados. Check on them daily to ensure that they do
not become overripe.
Since
you are already shopping ahead in the produce section, it is also good
time to pick up any fresh or dried chiles that your recipes call for,
because these too can go quick leading up to Cinco de Mayo.