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Comment by arprocter | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if something similar happens with avocados - even the "ripe" ones sold in stores normally feel hard enough to smash a window.

Are people planning on making guac buying a week ahead of time?

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Avocados are tough to keep at a consistent firmness. Left on the shelf, they go from rock solid to bruised mush in no time. What I do personally is buy ten at a time and leave them out to ripen. When each one is just about to be ripe, I put it in the fridge, where it stays consistent for weeks. As supply dwindles (I eat about one a day on average) I overlap by getting another 10.

Stores should really start doing this themselves... wait until they're just about ripe, then package them in sealed containers (so shoppers can't poke and bruise them) and keep them refrigerated. Obviously more effort which will add to the cost, but I'm guessing the average consumer would happily pay a bit more to get ripe avocados on demand. Otherwise you either have to really plan ahead or go on a search for the rare unicorn that is a ripe one.

Interesting - I'll have to give that a try!

How do you tell when to fridge them? Slightly mushy?

They are slightly tender and the stem can be wiggled a bit. Beyond that, I don't know how to objectively quantify it, but if you know what a perfectly ripe avocado feels like, it's about the same or just a little bit less. They might ripen in the fridge another half-day's worth. And if you don't know that, trial and error will quickly converge to an optimal solution within a few tries.

Avocados have to be harvested green since there is only about a 45 minute window of ripeness before they are hopelessly rotten. /s

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