Avocado: The fruit that doesn’t ripen on the tree
If you thought that all fruits and vegetables ripen on the tree, one fruit will prove that science wrong. And that is avocado. Yes, we are talking about the avocado that you pick up from a supermarket to make your guacamole. It doesn’t ripen on the tree. On the contrary, avocados actually can’t start ripening until they’re taken away from their stems. Do you know what this implies? You can leave avocados on the tree for many months without worrying that they’ll go bad!
The science behind their ripening
Avocados need to be harvested at the right time from the tree, not too early and not too late. An avocado that has been picked too soon will have low oil content and may not ripen sufficiently, remaining inedible and rubbery, with poor flavour. It is best that the fruit stays attached to the tree for a good time so that it can have higher oil content and richer flavour. But if it is left on the tree for too long, the oil inside will turn rancid and the fruit will naturally fall from the tree (at which point it's no longer good). Tricky, right?
Well, the complexity doesn’t end here. After an avocado is picked from the tree, it is mature but not ready to eat. It is still hard and must be softened off the tree. Now, this softening process takes from a few days to a week, depending on the degree of maturity, storage temperature and variety. So it would be hard for you to tell if that avocado that you are picking up from a store is ripe or how long it will take to ripen.
Is your avocado ripe?
So how do you know which of those avocados is ready to eat? Feel the skin. The one with a bumpy texture is your pick. Also, it would yield to firm gentle pressure and would be softer near the stem. Two, observe the colour. The ripe one may have a dark green to nearly black colour.
Avocado is a fruit
Yes, technically, avocado is a fruit and not a veggie. Although it is used more like a vegetable in your salads or to make your dip, it falls under the definition of a fruit. A fruit is the ‘sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.’ In many parts of the world, it is also eaten as a dessert.
Where did avocados come from?
Avocados are native to Mexico and Central America. The fruit was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes in America more than 5,000 years ago. Actually, at that time avocado wasn’t even called an avocado. It was commonly referred to as ‘ahuacate’ in California and as ‘alligator pear’ in Florida.
Avocados need warm climates to survive and are not so easy to cultivate. It takes a significant amount of resources to produce an avocado; an avocado tree takes between three and five years before it begins bearing fruit! That said, because of their increasing popularity, they are now cultivated commercially in tropical and Mediterranean climates throughout the world.