How to ripen an avocado fast

Avocado is a very versatile creamy and delicious fruit, since you can enjoy it in both savory and sweet preparations, with equally exquisite results. A very common inconvenience when buying avocado is finding it ripe, since it is usually sold green. A ripening avocado looks black with purple, and when finally ripe it turns black with hints of purple (although there are exceptions).

If you have a green avocado and you need it quickly, don’t despair. There are effective and incredible tricks that will teach us how to ripen an avocado fast.  we collect them for you, so keep reading!

Store the avocado in a paper bag

This trick is one of the most widespread to ripen an avocado and, according to many, it is the most effective. It consists of putting the avocado in a paper bag (Kraft or brown), creating a kind of air trap where the ethylene gas from the fruit it will accumulate. The trick in practice is very simple, just follow these steps:

• Put the avocado in a paper bag (Kraft or brown paper bag) and close it. Check that there are no holes.
• Take care of details such as temperature and lighting. Place the avocado in a place at room temperature (away from direct sunlight), that is, at a temperature of approximately 18 to 24 ºC.
• Check if the fruit has ripened within 2-5 days.

Tip: Do not put the avocado in the fridge, as it prolongs the ripening process.

Wrap the avocado in newspaper?

A very old and popular trick: use newspaper to wrap the avocado and wait until it ripens.  This option does not have much mystery, you just have to:

1. Wrap the avocado with newspaper.
2. Leave it in a warm-temperate place where it is not directly exposed to the sun and wait.
3. You can leave it inside the oven or the microwave turned off.

This technique is very similar to the previous one, since it is based on the same scientific phenomenon: ethylene gas is concentrated and accelerates the ripening of fruits. The estimated time for the avocado to ripen will be approximately 2 or more days.

Put the avocado in a sock and inside a drawer

This trick has a lot of charm and effectiveness, so much so that a Canadian company called The Avocado Sock has patented it. The idea is to put the avocado in a wool sock and put it in a box or drawer. You can ripen an avocado in just 1 day. Likewise, this method follows the scientific logic of the previous ones.

Store the avocado next to a fruit

Although this technique is complementary, it is considered very effective. To apply it you only need:

1. Store the avocado in a paper bag or wrap it with newspaper.
2. Add a fruit (apple or banana).

The scientific explanation for this phenomenon is that the fruit adds another portion of ethylene gas to the air trap, thus further accelerating the ripening process. The avocado will be ready in 1-3 days (depending on how green it is). Adding more than one fruit will speed up the ripening process.

Dip avocado in flour

This is another complementary technique that you can apply along with the paper bag or newspaper wrapper. Similar to the previous tricks, you just have to follow these steps

1. Place the avocado inside a newspaper or paper bag
2. Add enough flour to submerge completely.
3. Close the bag.
4. Put the bag or wrapper in a warm to warm place (could be microwaves or ovens turned off).

Using this method, the results will be seen in less than 24 hours.

Wrap the open avocado in plastic wrap

This trick is for those wondering how to ripen a split avocado. If you opened one and found that it was still very green, that’s okay, you can still ripen it. To do so, you need:

1. Cut an avocado into two parts if you don’t already have it cut.
2. Spread the exposed surface with lemon juice.
3. Put the two parts back together.
4. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in a warm place where the sunlight does not directly illuminate it.
5. Check it daily. The results will be seen in a couple of days.

Place the avocado in a sunny place

Avocados naturally ripen on trees, usually in full sun. So if they fell off the tree early, it stands to reason that they’ll complete their ripening cycle if you leave them out in the sun.

The only problem with this method is that it is only applicable for people who live in hot places (or are in hot season). You will see the results in a couple of days.

Wrap the avocado in aluminum foil

This method is quite fast and effective, since you can ripen an avocado in 10 minutes, and it is recommended for when you need to prepare an avocado cream or guacamole. However, the result does not please us so much, because it alters the flavor a bit (bitterness). If you decide to use it, follow these simple steps:

1. Wrap the avocado in aluminum foil. Some people make shallow cuts in the avocado before wrapping it, but if you don’t, the trick will work too.
2. Place the wrapper on a baking tray.
3. Cook the avocado for 10 minutes at 150ºC or 200ºC. The temperature will depend on your oven.
4. Take the avocado out of the oven, wait until it cools and use it in the recipe of your choice.

Put the avocado in the microwave

This option is the fastest that exists so far, since you can ripen the avocado in 30 seconds. However, as in the previous method, the flavor of the avocado will be slightly altered. If you are going to prepare a guacamole or an avocado smoothie, this trick will work for you, since the rest of the ingredients will mitigate the flavor.

There are two ways you can apply this trick, for the first one you just have to follow these steps:

1. Pierce the avocado several times with a fork. Do it throughout the entire shell.
2. Place it on a plate covered with a napkin or plastic wrap. If you don’t, the avocado will explode when heated in the microwave.
3. Heat the avocado for 30 seconds and, at the end of the time, check if it has softened enough. If the result is not satisfactory, program the microwave for an additional 30 seconds.
4. Take the avocado out of the microwave and let it cool to room temperature. Once tempered, use it as usual.

For the second option, here are the instructions:

• Cut the avocado in half vertically. Remove the seed (the bone).
• Wrap each part with special plastic wrap for microwaves.
• Put both halves in the microwave and program for 2 minutes.
• Let it cool down a bit, before placing both parts in a bowl with an inverted water bath (with ice).
• After a few minutes (between 5-10), you can use the avocado.