Avocados are a type of fruit that has been available in our environment for a long time. An avocado first ever came into vision in approximately 5000 BC. Mexico gets the credit for inventing this fruit. Avocados have gained great popularity over the years because of their nutritive value. Although it can be a little pricey fruit in comparison to many other fruits available in the market. So, we need to gain the knowledge of how to know if an avocado is bad.
Avocados are available in almost every country now and we can easily buy them from any market near our home. An avocado has a similar shape to a pear smaller from the upper side and thicker from the lower side. It has an drak bright green color if it is in the perfect shape and by the time it gets bad. It has gained a place in almost every health-conscious person’s lifestyle.
There are many ways to include it in our diet and it is a fruit so we can eat it raw. Avocados were used in Mexican food in the beginning because they invented it first.
We can make smoothies with avocados for the small kids. We can make a healthy toast for ourselves by using avocados. Parents can also make some healthy snacks for their kids using avocados like ice cream.
There are also many other ways to use avocados and we will talk about it in brief here. And we will also spread some light on how to know if avocados get bad because they are a little expensive to purchase. This article will solely talk about all the facts and things related to an avocado.
1. What Is An Avocado?
An avocado is a type of fruit and according to many reports, an avocado is a large berry with a large brown seed inside it. Berries in nature are usually very small in size but avocado is an exception. The origin country of an avocado is Mexico but now it has gained the attention of people all around the globe.
Now let’s talk about the appearance of an avocado. It is a dark bright green colored fruit with a very large brown seed inside it. The avocado has light green pulp inside it around the seed and it is very soft. An avocado has a light sweet taste and it’s very pleasing to eat.
The avocados grow on trees and not on bushes like any other berry and they need a warm environment to grow. It has a lot of minerals and nutrients which are important for the well-being of human beings. An avocado is rich in many vitamins like vitamin K and vitamin B.
They have many other health benefits too. It is also not a hassle to get them because they are readily available and they are also easy to store. Everyone should eat an avocado when it is fresh and in good shape. When they are fresh they are rich in nutritive value.
2. Benefits Of Eating An Avocado
There are a lot of benefits to eating an avocado and you can have it every day without any concerns. We will dedicate this whole part to some of the benefits of eating an avocado.
2.01. Micro And Macro
An avocado has many necessary micro and macro nutrients in it. If we have one avocado every day it can help us in getting above 40% of these nutrients. Sometimes kids don’t eat their food and vegetables but they eat fruits instead and avocado can be a really good option.
2.02. Body Weight
Avocados are rich in calories and they can provide us energy for a very long time. It is also rich in fats so it helps you to keep your stomach full for a very long time. This can help us to avoid overeating and eventually, it can help us to keep our body weight in check.
2.03. Good Cholesterol
Nowadays many people are suffering from cholesterol which means an increase in fat in our blood. It happens when we eat a lot of junk food or oily food and avocado increases the level of good cholesterol in our body.
2.04. Helps With Heart
Increased levels of bad cholesterol can be very harmful to our heart because it blocks our arteries. If the arteries get blocked it becomes very difficult for the heart to pump blood in our body. An avocado can help to keep our hearts healthy.
2.05. Fibre
Avocados are very rich in fibre and it is beneficial for our stomachs to eat plenty of fibre every day. If someone struggles with constipation and it disturbs their daily schedule then they should try eating avocados.
3. How To Know If An Avocado Is Bad
There are a lot of different ways to tell when an avocado gets bad. In this particular section, we will talk about a few ways to tell it.
3.01 Avocado’s stem
This is the most popular and very easy way to tell if an avocado is bad or not. To use this method we simply need to remove the stem of the fruit with our thumb and it is on the top of it. If the round mark is black that means the avocado is bad and it is best to throw it away.
The brown mark means the avocado has been on the shelf for a long time and it is about to go bad. If the round mark is pure white that means the avocado is unripe and it still needs some time to get ripped. And if the stem mark is of light green color that means the avocado is perfect to eat.
3.02 The Flesh Of An Avocado
This is another way or I say the easiest way to tell if an avocado is bad or not. For this method, we have to simply cut the avocado in half and see the state of the flesh. If the pulp is hard that simply means that it is still not ripe. The light green colour and a little soft texture mean the avocado is perfect.
If the color of the flesh is dark brown and clumpy it means the avocado has already gone bad. And if you see any black marks in the avocado you should throw it immediately. However, it is not a very friendly method for our pocket because this way we can check an avocado only after buying it.
3.03 The Skin Of The Avocado
We can also use this method to differentiate between the bad and ripe avocados. If the skin is bright and firm and it feels tight when you press it with your hand that means the avocado is unripe. And if the avocado skin is green and firm and quiche a little when you spread it with your hand means the avocado is ripe and ready to eat.
If you can squish the avocado with a little pressure that means the fruit is rotten. If any holes are visible on its skin it indicates that it has some worms and it is bad to eat it. This is also a good way because you can use it in the store while buying the avocado and it can save you from wasting your money on it.
4. Some Different Ways To Use Avocado
There are a lot of recipes in which we can use avocado as a main ingredient or a side ingredient. Avocados have a very mild sweetness and it makes them capable of being mixed with many different flavours.
4.01 A Toast
Many people are gaining knowledge and getting concerned about their health. They often struggle to find quick and easy breakfast recipes because they are busy working. This recipe is really for all those people because it takes very little of our time and effort.
To make this we need a slice of bagel bread or any other bread. Cook it by putting a little olive oil on both sides of the bread until it starts looking brown and crispy. Then put some avocado slices on top of it with some pepper and salt. After this put some cottage cheese on it and enjoy.
You can also put parmesan in place of cottage cheese. Then bake it for 30 seconds until the cheese melts. We can have it as a whole meal because it is rich in calories and other elements. It can prevent you from feeling hungry for a very long time.
4.02 Smoothies
We can make smoothies of any fruit or vegetable now. It is a very interesting way to add fruits and vegetables to your life along with your children’s lives. Smoothies are very convenient to make and we also don’t need a lot of things for them.
To make smoothies first we need to freeze some avocado. You can add some other fruits too if you want to. Take the frozen fruits and blend them in a blender. After that pour the smoothie in a bowl with the help of a spatula.
Even out the surface and put some chia seeds on it along with some avocado slices and berries. One can squeeze a few drops of lime juice too to add some more flavours. It can be a very good option for breakfast because it is rich in nutrients.
4.03 Burgers
As we all know burgers are from the category of fast foods but now there are a lot of recipes to enjoy without worrying about it. Burgers are oily and unhealthy but we can recreate them and add the ingredients of our own choice.
We can add avocado slices to the healthy version of the burger. Use some other fruits like tomatoes to enhance the flavour. Add some cheese too with mayonnaise to add the creamy texture to the burger.
Now just like pineapple, we can add avocado to your pizza. It can make it a little healthy and help to shuffle up the flavours a bit. Avocados can taste good if we try to mix them with food items that enhance their flavours and nutritive value.
4.04 Dips
Avocados can make a delicious dip for many different dishes. There are many ways to prepare a dip using avocado but here we will discuss the easiest one.
To make an avocado dip first take an avocado and take out the pulp in a small bowl. Squish it with a spoon to make it similar to a puree. After that add one spoon of olive oil to it with some salt, black pepper, and red pepper. Then squeeze a few drops of lemon in it and then mix it thoroughly.
We can have this dip with nacho chips or some sandwiches. This dip can go easily with any food item because it gives us the natural mild and lightly sweet flavour of avocado mixed with some pepper to spice things up.
4.05 Pasta
Who doesn’t love to eat pasta in today’s world, especially kids? Pasta can be a good option to add any vegetable to your children’s plate without them knowing. Avocado can be a very good choice because of its nutritive value.
It is always better to use freshly made pasta but if you don’t have enough time to make that you can simply take the ready-made pasta. Make sauce with avocado by adding some milk, heavy cream, and spices to the pan along with the avocados.
Cook the puree on low flame for 7 to 10 minutes then add the boiled pasta to the pan. Add some pasta water to it to make the sauce a little thick in texture. Serve it when it’s hot and garnish the dish with some chopped parsley on top of it.
5. How To Store Avocado The Correct Way
Avocados are a very good source of many nutrients and fiber but it can be a problem to store them for a long time. This section will solely discuss the correct way to store avocados at home.
Just like all the other fruits and vegetables it is important to give some attention to the storing technique of an avocado. Nobody has time to go and buy avocados every day so we often tend to buy fruits for a week at least.
Washing our fruits is a very important step to lead a healthy and perfect life. Now there are a lot of food detergents available in the market especially made to wash fruits and vegetables. Add some detergent to a bowl put the avocados in it and wash. After doing that simply wash it with tap water.
After doing this put the fruits on top of a paper towel to rinse the water from them. Then place a paper towel on the bottom of an airtight container put the avocados in it and close the lid. Please keep in mind to put the container in the fridge to keep them fresh for a long time.
You can also do one more thing about the avocado. Buy some unripe fruits and some ripped ones. This way you can use the ripped ones first and keep the unripe ones at room temperature until they get ripped.
To save some more time we can put the avocado by cutting them into slices and putting it in an airtight container. After doing this don’t forget to keep it in the fridge and use them with any dish.
6. Final Note
This article only talked about an avocado from the beginning to the end. We learned a lot about an avocado here and everyone can use this knowledge in their everyday life. An avocado is a great fruit for everyone. Mexico is the originating country of the avocados.
An avocado falls under the category of berries but with a bigger size of seed in it. It has a dark green color and it is light green from the inside with a brown seed in between it. It has a sweet smell but because of the hard shell, it is difficult to cut them.
An avocado has a lot of nutrients in it that are important for our body to function properly. It is rich in fibre and calories which is the reason it can help you with constipation. Food items that are rich in fibre are always good for your intestines.
This article mainly talks about the different ways to tell if an avocado has gone bad with time. These methods can help us choose the perfect avocados from the supermarket without any hustle. It can help us to save a little money and prevent us from buying the rotten fruit.
We also talked about how someone can make a lot of delicious dishes with avocado. We can make toast, smoothies, burgers, pizza, or dips of many kinds. Avocado can taste good if you add the ingredients that enhance its flavour and do not destroy it.
There is a proper way to store an avocado because they can’t last long after we pluck them out from the trees. We have to wash them, remove their stickers, and store the avocados in an airtight container. There are other ways too which we have talked about in this article.
