Edit: 10/23 I took a lot of advice from here, I bought an avocado yesterday and I tried it today. It was perfect! The taste was incredible. I didn’t need to salt/season it to hide anything. I am in a different state right now but when I get home I’ll buy one at home using my knowledge I now have and hopefully it’ll be perfect. Maybe I was picking out the wrong avocados & there’s nothing wrong with me. We’ll see, but I’m excited to have a good tasting avocado for the first time in a long time.
Edit: I’m reading your replies I promise. The app I’m using is bugging out and it’s not letting me reply. I’ll log in on the browser later and reply. Thank you everyone!
I love Avocado. When I go to the store I’ll pick out a green one that’s firm, and I’ll eat it once it starts to get slightly soft. The problem is more than 90% of the time they’re no good. They have a gross taste, almost like it’s spoiled. I can’t blame the store, I’ve tried Aldi, Walmart, Kroger, Trader Joe’s and they all have the weird gross taste. Maybe it’s the supplier, the type of avocado (hass i believe) or maybe it’s just me. By the way the only reason I try and try again is because our avocados are cheap. .65-85 cents and I get one a week. (Maybe my region is getting garbage avocados?)
Anytime I go to a restaurant and order anything with avocado, it’s always perfection. I would rather eat a good avocado than any desert and this is coming from someone who loves desert and doesn’t eat as many fruits or vegetables as I should.
So what should I be doing to get a good avocado from the grocery store?
I’ve tried googling and following those directions but nothings working. Maybe Lemmy knows something Google doesn’t?
Also I’ve tried getting them when they’re soft, firm, green, darker, I’ve put them in the fridge, I’ve tried combinations of things and nothing that I’ve notice has worked.
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This comment is truth. Especially the stem nub. If its ripe enough just a little forward poke rolls the nub off the skin.
- a former prep Cook who makes a mean guacamole.
That could be my issue. We don’t have long avocados they’re all small and round. I’ll be on the lookout though
Take your non-dominant hand and cross the thumb over to the base of the pinky finger. Then with your dominant hand index finger, push on the meaty bit of your plam beneath your thumb and remember that feeling—This is the same firmness/softness ratio of a perfectly ripe avocado.
Also salt your damn avocado and don’t eat the rind.
If they’re rock solid, they’re not ripe yet. If they start to get soft, they’re ripe. If they’re too soft, they’re bad.
That’s pretty much what I’ve been going for. Maybe something’s wrong with me
One thing not mentioned is look at the top of the avacado. If the stem end is flush with the top, you’re going to have a rubbery avacado. If it’s bulbous, ie the stem end is off to the side with some of the fruit coming over top, it’s going to be a good one. A flush top means the picked it too soon and it will never be good.
The avocado I picked out based on the stem turned out perfectly. I loved the taste and I didn’t need to season it at all to hide anything. Thank you.
I bought an avacado with the stem off to the side with the fruit going slightly above the stem. I think it’ll be ready tomorrow to eat.
Disclaimer I am also in a different state at the moment so they might not be the same avacados I get at home. I’ll update how this one turns out.
My girlfriend tells me I have the magic touch because I usually pick out good ones. The issue I run into more than anything is how volatile any given produce department can be. Some places will only keep rock hard ones stocked, or maybe they have some regular early morning shopper who religiously buys all the ripe ones before you even get there.
If you’re the sociable type, schmooze with the produce folks at Kroger/trader joe’s and they’ll probably be able to tell you when the best time is to come, or maybe they can be assed to leave more not-rock avocados out.
Two things your restaurant might be doing that you don’t at home:
- Spritzing a little lemon on the avocado to keep it looking fresh.
- Salt.
Maybe these will make a difference for you.
Definitely trying this on my next one
I think better if you would take a video of pictures of a new one you bought and share it. Cut it open as well. The price depends on your location and the season. Its hard to describe the perfect softness. But it shouldn’t be soft like tomato or a boild eggs. More like a cucumber or an orange.
Again sharing a video you would help alot.
Next time I get an avocado I’ll make a video. I try for the cucumber feeling. That seems to be about my best success rate for a good avocado
I got some pictures of an avacado I bought but it’s not letting me upload it right now. I’ll try again tomorrow and I’ll try the avacado I bought tomorrow as well. Disclaimer I’m in a different state so it might be a different avacado then the one I get at home. It doesn’t say on the sticker but it looks the same
Wiggle the little stalk at the top, if it wiggles nicely, it’s ripe. Takes a little to get the feel for wiggle to ripe ratio, but it’s a really good indicator.
I’ve had a few experiences recently where the stem wiggled, and the skin was browned nicely, but when I cut into it and tried to peel it, the bottome part was extremely hard and difficult to separate from the peel, but the top part was easily peeled and ready to eat – Do you know what causes that or how to avoid it?
This sounds like my experience with Reid Avocados… I find Hass way superior. But I let them get so ripe sometimes there’s white flecks forming around the stem. Are colour are your avocados when you eat them? Hass avocados go very dark, almost black skinned by the time I eat them Reid Avocados tend to be very bright green, and even still only a darkish green by the time they are ready to eat
We only have Haas from what I’ve seen, I would love to try a different type. Once the haas go black they get very very soft for me and I assume they’re bad. Can I store them so the skin goes black but the inside stays safe to eat?
As long as the flesh inside is still green then they are still good to eat. Only once the insides are going brown are they going bad… and you can tell from how lame it tastes. Once they feel slightly soft I’ll usually put them in the fridge to slow the ripening down a bit. An ultra soft Hass with bright green flesh is optimal!!
Avos can bruise before they are soft. The bruises go sour before the whole fruit is soft. Most grocery stores absolutely abuse the fruits. Find a store that doesn’t. Look for a single layer, not a pyramid, heap, or pile. Costco keeps them in the flat boxes.
Anyway the restaurants buy them wholesale and they’re cared for in nice flat boxes so they can ripen beautifully.
I’m only able to buy a good dark avocado, so I can’t help you with the green type. I buy them when they’re really soft to the touch, more like the mentioned tomato than like a cucumber, but not so soft that I could deform them. I love putting avocados on bread instead of butter, so I prefer them really soft. I don’t use lemon nor salt, I like them just the way they are.
One possibility is that you may be a super taster, it’s a dumb name for people who are able to taste Bitter 2. If you often find that you hate the taste of things other people with your same background love, it could be that you are one of us.
Being a super taster is nowhere near as super as it sounds. There’s unfortunately no upside to balance out the fact that you will hate the taste of alot of things that taste normal to other people. But at least finding out why helps you to not feel as bad about it. You aren’t just a “picky eater” and being forced to eat it really is the equivalent of making a normal person eat dog shit, flavour-wise anyway. Unfortunately nutrient-wise the stuff that tastes incredibly unbelievably terrible to us is some of the healthiest food known to humans, yay another downside!
You know all those kids that “won’t eat their vegetables”? Yep. Not to mention it’s also possible to be a “strong taster” as well as hypersensory. And the even funner part is it’s possible to have all three… ask me how I know that? Yeah… eating food sucks. Even my favourite meals can kind of feel like the tongue equivalent of crossing a mine field with a poorly drawn map.
But at least being a strong taster and being hypersensory do also have pay offs. Positive experiences are substantially more positive to me, as long as they don’t cross over the threshold, which with alot of practice does eventually get possible to avoid. Because any sensory experience that crosses that threshold is basically converted into a sensation very similar to pain. Just a very strong and immediate “hey stop doing that thing” type message in your nervous system. I know that last bit makes it just seem more bad, but with practice I can indeed avoid that pretty often. And let me tell you, when you can ride the wave of a sensory experience nearly pegging the meter without actually doing so, the payoff is worth it. Ok, well maybe not worth all of it, but it at least helps weigh against all the negative.
It may help you to know that most people lose some of their taste and smell sensitivity as they age. For many, that’s a sad thing, but you might find yourself able to enjoy new foods once that bitterness is dulled for you. I’m (60+) enjoying cruciferous vegetables I always hated, and my mom can finally eat cilantro!
Luckily my dad is a chef, and I’ve always had a strong interest in food chemistry, we’ve managed to find lots of palatable ways to modify important foods over the years to keep me healthy. And surprisingly, despite everything that should be against it, one of the vegetables I have always liked is actually broccoli, I can’t really do the stems, but I love the florets. He makes a sort of stock out of the stems so they don’t go to waste.
That’s interesting because I find the florets more strongly flavored than the stems, but maybe that’s because I usually peel the stems so they won’t be woody.
I’m trying to figure out why I hate seltzer water. I don’t know if I have what you describe here, or if I’m sensitive to something specific, but seltzer water and some baked goods are disgustingly bitter, and other people don’t seem to notice. (I’m blaming the baked goods on some types of baking powder, but I’m not sure)
It certainly could be, seltzer water is definitely on the list. Probably worth looking into. But even people without any good reason, people can find seltzer water gross, there is alot not to like there, lol.
But yeah, can’t hurt to learn more about conditions even if it turns out not to be something you have, knowledge is useful.
Idk how I missed this comment originally but it’s very interesting. I hated every vegetable as a kid, I still don’t like most of them but I’ll push myself to eat them. I do enjoy cucumbers, and a select others fresh vegetables. (Once they get cooked… 🤮🤮🤮)
When avacados are “good” I friggin love them. It’s literally heaven for me. Idk what the deal is but I took advice from everyone in this thread and I bought a avacado and I’ll post a little update when I try it tomorrow.
The way you’re describing it sounds like a step past the standard “super taster” experience. Especially if you already know you’re prone to hypersensation in taste (or tactile), you might look into learning more about ARFID, an avoidant-restrictive type eating/feeding disorder. Many kids who don’t grow out of being picky eaters (or even get worse) aren’t as much “picky” as they are literally unable to swallow or keep down most food. There’s been more education about it (especially in adults) recently, leading to a lot of adults having a “holy shit I’m not the only person in the world like this?!” moment. There’s a decent community on Reddit if you’re curious about others’ experiences (though being Reddit there’s also some wildly uncalled for aggressive armchair diagnoses, groupthink, and misinformation, soooo grain of salt).
My sister is ARFID, I could still theoretically eat the stuff I don’t like without my body reacting that way, it just isn’t worth doing. None of the stuff I don’t eat would cause any lasting harm, it’s just too strong of a flavour that it is essentially painful. All my senses are affected by being hypersensory, and my super taster and strong taster are individually and independently verified. Not just guesses or anything less certain.
My life is still surprisingly manageable, my sisters is not as much. She at least is not hypersensory. I couldn’t imagine that added on to her troubles.
You should ask a friend to prepare an avocado for you. Take yourself out of the equation. If you don’t like it then maybe you don’t like plain avocado?
I see what you’re saying but when I do get a good avocado from the store and it’s perfect I always eat them plain.
At a Mexican restaurant I’ll ask for avocado on the side 10 out of 10 times it’s amazing. I guess they might season it. But I know for sure I’ve had a plain avocado that I’ve made that I love, it’s just so rare.
My girlfriend has prepared me plain avocado and it has the success rate that I have. Most of the time it tastes terrible but sometimes it’s perfectly fine. She won’t eat avocado so I can’t figure out if it’s me and no one else I know eats them either
A little lemon or lime juice and salt can help a not-quite-perfect avocado pass for better than it is. Enjoy your perfect plain ones, but try and see if it can salvage the others for you.
I’m so jealous, avocado’s are $3 each here.
If they were $3 here I would’ve given up on Avocados a looooong time ago
If the stem end is flush with the to
$2.50 here, but fuck it they’re so good.
ask if they call their mother
