Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Preserving Avocados

The same day I bought the celery, I also bought these nice avocados. If you gently squeeze an avocado, when it starts to feel soft, not hard, then it is ripe and can be used. I bought them quite hard, all except one to use right away, and waited for them to ripen:



I only shop for groceries about once every 2 months, and so having fresh avocados is rare, and if I buy more than 2 they might be wasted. I read about this on the internet quite some time ago - I don't remember where. Now, when I find a good price on them, I buy several and here is how I process them.

First, cut one in half and hit the pit with the knife. The knife will stick into it and then you can twist the pit out easily:



I use a spoon to scoop the flesh from the avocado and put them into the food processor. Then, for each 3 avocados, I add 2 Tablespoons of bottled lemon juice. Of course, you could use fresh, but I rarely have fresh lemons.



Next, process it all until smooth. I place a little sandwich bag into a drinking glass and add 1/2 cup of the avocado/lemon mixture. The glass helps hold the bag open and reduces mess.




Here is a bag with the 1/2 cup in it:



And here is a freezer bag stuffed full of the little bags:



This went into the freezer and when I want to make guacamole or have avocado dip, I just pull one out and let it thaw in the refrigerator. The lemon juice prevents darkening.

17 comments:

  1. Some day I will have a food processor and I will maybe have room for it and then I can do stuff like this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You can do this without a food processor. Just mash them well!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so very much for posting this. I've never been able to figure out how to properly preserve avocados until now. I never thought to freeze them! Thank you for this blog. I'm learning alot!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I prefer to mash with a fork. We like the chunkier style avocado dip.

    ReplyDelete
  5. your very kind loves2spin.....thank you for the info. Just planted an avocado tree.

    ReplyDelete
  6. appreciate your kindness....thank you for the info, just planted an avocado tree.

    ReplyDelete
  7. thanks for the info. When it is defrosting,does it separate and get watery?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Not usually, but then, I don't let it defrost completely. When it gets pretty soft, I mix it up with a fork. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is wonderful news. My dad has a Fuerte avocado tree in So. Cal. It produces the BEST avocados we've ever had and this has been going on for 20 + years. They come ripe in January so in December he sends a boxful of these wonderful gems. My aunt told me to use Fruit Fresh to preserve them but I had absolutely no luck with that last year. Just received his box so I need to try this lemon juice method. THANK YOU and Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Can you freeze them any other way than mashed and how?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Any other method than mashed?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I really think mashed would be the only reasonable thing. Once they are frozen, the cell walls will burst and they won't hold together nicely, so mashed is the way to go and also, with the mashed, you can get all of the air out of your freezer bags, and so they don't get freezer burn.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can't use fresh lemons fast enough to keep a supply on hand. My solution is to buy a bag of lemons, juice all of them, put the juice in ice cube trays to freeze. After they are frozen I put them in baggies and keep frozen. Whenever I need lemon juice, I pull out a cube, thaw it and use it. Quite handy. Also, I get the zest from the peels and dry it for future use.

    Thanks for the avocado tip. I did not know they could be frozen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a great idea about the lemons! Another thing I have done when there are too many lemons is that I cut them into wedges, salt each one thoroughly, and then press them down into a glass jar and lid tightly. Then they will keep a Long Time in the refrigerator. You can us the juice, flesh or zest in recipes that would be happy to have some salt. It's amazing what a nice lemony sparkle they can add to a dish!

      Delete