Creamy Avocado Salad

This easy recipe contains only 4 ingredients. It’s easily doubled. I make it in the food processor but it’s easy to do by hand as well. The only fat this contains is the good kind—from the avocado itself. Try it with some fresh bread and a slice or two of lettuce. I mentioned this recipe […]

Is That Avocado Ripe Enough to Eat?

Reader Ilana sent me an interesting question: How do you tell if an avocado is ripe? Well, sometimes it’s difficult because avocados ripen unevenly. The lower part, surrounding the seed, ripens faster than the thickest part of the avocado’s neck.

I’ve had some avocados get brown and spoil before ripening. I presume it has something to do with the way they had been grown or stored. Usually an avocado ripens within a week. To make it ripen faster, put it in a paper bag in a drawer and don’t forget about it.

The avocado on the left is ready to eat. You can tell because the skin is starting to get brown and wrinkled. The unripe one is textured, like all avocados to varying degrees, but not wrinkled or shrunken.