When Is An Avocado Bad : Ways To Tell

Marsha McCulloch, MS, RD writes:

"An avocado doesn’t start to ripen until picked from the tree, but the process happens rather quickly afterward. Once ripe, you have a narrow window of time — generally a few days — before the fruit starts to spoil. You may wonder how to determine when an avocado is rotten and no longer good to eat... well here are five signs that an avocado has gone bad.

Overly soft with dented skin 

If you gently squeeze an avocado in the palm of your hand and it retains a large indentation where you pressed, the fruit is overripe and likely spoiled.

Blackened skin 

Hass, the most common avocado variety, develops blackened skin when overripe and rotten. However, other varieties retain their green colour when overripe.

Dark, stringy flesh 

The flesh of a rotten avocado has dark spots and a stringy texture that tastes bad. However, an isolated discoloured area may be due to bruising.

Off flavour or odour

A sour taste or smell, as well as a rancid aroma and chemical flavour, mean that an avocado is spoiled and you should discard it.

Mold

Mold is a clear sign that an avocado is spoiled. You should discard the entire fruit, as the mold can spread through the soft flesh but may not be entirely visible.

Safety of overripe avocados

If they taste fine, you can eat overripe avocados, but be sure to avoid spoiled ones. The more an avocado has deteriorated, the more likely it will be rancid or moldy — both of which could potentially make you sick.

The bottom line

Avocados are rotten if they’re mushy when squeezed, brown or moldy inside, and have developed rancidity or a sour smell. You may be able to salvage part of the fruit if it’s just starting to brown inside and the rest of the fruit looks, smells, and tastes fine. Inspect avocados carefully at the store and monitor them closely at home so you can avoid the need to discard them."

The above words are just a snippet from Marsha's post, please read it in full here

You may also like to read the post 'Reasons To Love Avocados' see it here

Dear reader, you will find a variety of articles and recipe ideas within this blog, and not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues please take these into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan