A bowl of rice can work too There is one more quick-ripening method that avocado producers like Avocados from Mexico recommend, though it's one I haven't personally tried. Instead of putting your hard avocados into a paper bag, smother them in a bowl of uncooked rice.
You can speed up the avocado-ripening process with a piece of fruit. Put an avocado in a paper bag with a banana, an apple or a kiwi and fold to seal. These fruits produce ethylene gas, a plant hormone that aids ripening. The closed brown paper bag traps the gas inside to speed up the ripening time.
The best way to ripen an avocado is by letting it happen naturally. Set the avocado in a bowl in a sunny spot on your kitchen counter. The warmth from the sun will also help the avocado ripen faster. Depending on how ripe your avocado was when you bought it, this could take a few days.
To speed up the avocado ripening process we recommend placing unripe avocados in a brown paper bag with an apple or banana for two to three days until they are ripe. We do not recommend any other method of ripening avocados.
Apples and bananas emit this gas as well, so when hard avocados are paired with an apple or banana inside a brown paper bag, the ethylene becomes more concentrated, therefore avocados ripen faster.
Do not microwave your avocados or put your avocados in the oven to try to ripen them faster. If you do, the microwave or oven may soften the flesh of the fruit a little which may make it 'seem' ripe, but it isn't. The avocado will taste unripe and won't have the creaminess or buttery, nutty flavor we all know and love.
A slightly underripe avocado should ripen overnight. Less ripe avocados may take more time, but the ethylene will generally halve the normal ripening timeline. Newspaper works too. If you don't have a paper bag, wrapping avocados in newspaper and placing them in a plastic bag also works well.
Countertop, Fridge or Freezer? Until they're fully ripe, avocados should be stored at room temperature. Placing an unripe avocado in the refrigerator will slow the ripening process, but the same concept applies to ripe avocados: put them in the refrigerator to keep them at their prime ripeness for longer.
Once you've let the feeling of disappointment wash over you, you may wonder, "Can you eat an unripe avocado?" The short answer is yes — unripe avocados have the same nutritional value, and if you're not allergic to avocados, eating an unripe one is perfectly safe.
Technically, both the microwave and oven methods work. Heat can turn a hard avocado into a soft one. But neither method actually ripens avocados. These hacks just make the avocados soft, leaving you with the flavor profile of an unripe avocado despite their softer feel.
You know that thing about putting underripe fruit in a brown paper bag to make it ripen faster? Well, it actually works: Throw an unripe avocado into a paper bag with a ripe banana, fold down the opening, and leave it at room temperature on your countertop for a day or two to accelerate the avocado ripening process.
An avocado generally takes four to seven days to ripen, and the best place to let it happen is just out on the counter at room temperature. All avocados start out bright green and feel heavy and hard in the palm of your hand. At this stage in the game, the hard fruit does not taste good.
Place hard avocados on a countertop in direct sunlight. The warmer temperature should help speed up the natural ripening of the avocados. Check for ripeness daily by gently squeezing the fruit. Use once the avocado yields slightly when you give it a squeeze, usually within two or three days.
If you would rather speed up your avocado's ripening process more naturally, Avocados from Mexico recommends finding a dry spot where your avocado can bask in direct sunlight to help it naturally ripen faster.
The best way to ripen an avocado involves first putting 2 to 3 inches of white flour at the bottom of a paper bag. Next, set your avocado on top. Roll the top of the bag a few times to completely seal it. Doing so traps in the ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening process.
Put the two halves back together, cover tightly in plastic wrap or foil, and stick it in the fridge. Check it often to see how it's ripening, and soon you'll be enjoying avocado tofu toast or avocado pasta!
Refrigerating slows down the ripening of an avocado. So it might sound sensible to refrigerate it before it is ripe. But, if you do this, then there's a good chance it won't ripen at all. The best thing to do is to leave it to ripen at room temperature (in a cupboard or in the fruit bowl).
Cut open the avocado and remove the pit. Immediately coat the flesh of one half with fresh lemon juice. Wrap the avocado half in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. It's as easy as one, two, three.
How to ripen an avocado after its been Cut: Rub all the flesh of the avocado with either lime or lemon juice. Put the cut avocado halves back together with the pit in the middle and squeeze tight. Wrap the avocado in plastic wrap so it clings to the flesh and put it in the refrigerator.
The sulfur compounds in the onion will oxidize on the green surface of the avocado and slow down the browning process for a few more days.
Plastic bags can trap ethylene gas as well, but they are not breathable. So, they also trap moisture which can cause the fruit to rot before it ripens. Paper bags — whether they are brown or white or any color in between — are ideal because they promote airflow. But they aren't the only ideal ripening container.
A hard, green avocado will ripen in four to five days.
Our tests didn't find anything that transgressed EU law, which suggests that it is safe to use cling film in the microwave. However to keep any risk of transfer to a minimum, it's advisable to make sure that your cling film isn't in direct contact with your food when you microwave it.
For ripe avocados, place them in your refrigerator for 2-3 days to keep them fresh. If your avocado isn't quite ripe, leave it out on your countertop. Over the next 4-5 days, your avocado will ripen and be ready for you to enjoy.