11 Things You Should Know Before Eating Another Avocado
So many avocados, so little time.
Avocado lovers: We're not saying these will change your life — but we're not saying they won't.
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It's The Ultimate Butter Substitute.
Don't worry, you can leave a little buttery goodness in your baked goods. In fact, you should: Removing all of it will result in some seriously flat cookies. But by swapping about half the butter your recipe calls for with an equal amount of mashed avocado, you'll cut out an insane amount of calories and have super soft, moist treats.
There's An Easy Way To Cut Them Without Risking Your Limbs.
Place half an avocado flesh side down on a cutting board and slice it, then peel the pieces of skin off each slice. You're left with strips that aren't mangled from the cut-and-scoop method and a hand that's Band-Aid free.
The Slicing Hacks Don't Stop There.
Another way you've probably never thought to chop an avocado is by cutting it crosswise rather than lengthwise. Either scoop the flesh out or peel the skin off each half, and slice parallel to the initial cut. You'll end up with the cutest rings, which you can cut in half for the slice shape you know and love.
There's A Simple Way To Tell If The Fruit Is Ripe.
No, we don't mean squeezing it. No one wants you fondling the food at the supermarket, anyway. Simply pop the stem off and check the color underneath. Brown means that baby's way past gone, but a fresh, green hue indicates that it's perfect for eating.
You Can Ripen An Avocado In Minutes.
Hell hath no fury like a woman waiting for an avocado to ripen. Sometimes they're all the supermarket has to offer though, so some genius figured out a way to make the fruit edible really quickly. Wrap that sucker in tin foil, place it on a baking sheet, and pop it in a 200° oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
One Company Will Custom Design An Avo For You.
What the hell does that mean? Well, some entrepreneur in San Francisco will create any graphic you want on the skin of the fruit. The options are practically endless — party invites, business cards, "thinking of you" notes — and they're not as expensive as you'd think, considering what you pay for one avocado in the store. A set of eight costs $32, plus just $5 for shipping.
No, You Should NOT Eat The Seed.
A few years ago, a rumor started floating around the internet that you were throwing away the healthiest part of an avocado: the giant seed in the middle. (We even wrote about it — whoops!) People were recommending you chop the pit into quarters then grind the thing up in a heavy-duty blender. It seems like a really good way to cut your hand (those pits are slippery!) and burn out the motor of your Vitamix. The California Avocado Commission finally put out a blog post declaring the idea completely bogus. Any studies about the health benefits were deemed inconclusive.
Avocados Can Lower Bad Cholesterol.
And it's the best way to justify the expensive price tag on the fruit. A study in the Journal of the American Hearst Association found that people who ate an avocado a day had lower levels of what's known as "bad cholesterol" than people on a similar diet who didn't indulge in a daily avocado.
You Can Freeze Avocados.
You've probably never thought to do so, but there are actually a couple different ways to. You could freeze an entire half, with the skin still on, in a Ziploc bag. The texture will change, so you probably won't want to eat slices once it's thawed, but halves are perfect for tossing in smoothies or salad dressings. The other option is to mash it into guacamole, adding a little lime or lemon juice, before popping it in the freezer.
This Restaurant Sells All Avocado, All The Time.
It's the most Brooklyn thing to hit the borough, but the hotspot — called Avocaderia, natch — was actually started by a bunch of Italians who became obsessed with avocados while in Mexico. There's obviously avocado toast, plus salads, smoothies, and bowls.
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