Avocado Storage – ADVENTURETACO

TL;DR - if you're a fan of avocados, a little care can keep them safe and unbruised for up to 10 days.

I eat a lot of avocados. For the last couple of years, I've been using a storage method that's worked amazingly well, and that I realized - even after all my talk of tacorritos and guacamole - I've never mentioned. Better late than never.

The key is to start with green, hard avocadoes - preferably with a little bit of stem remaining. You should always start this way - even when buying avocados for home - since anything that's ripe in the store won't last more than a day and likely already has brown dents and bruises. The little bit of stem keeps the avocado from losing too much moisture and also keeps it from growing mold where flesh is exposed when the stem is detached.

Once you bring them home from the store, avocados should always be stored at room temperature until they are just ripe enough to eat. Beyond that point, ripening will continue - more slowly, a good thing - in a refrigerator (be it at home or on the trail).

When headed out on the trail, storage becomes critical. In the thin plastic bag you got at the store, bouncing around with the rest of your food, is a sure way to end up with gross, brown, dented avocados. Instead, spend a few minutes before leaving to wrap each avocado in its own hand towel, and place it carefully in a structurally sound cardboard box. Ideally, the box will hold one layer of avocados - mine holds six to eight, depending on size. Store the box somewhere in the cab of your vehicle, so the avocados sit flat, and the box isn't being jostled around. The floor is a good spot, I've found. Bonus points if you cover the box with something soft to insulate and keep heavy items from collapsing it.

After about 3 days, your avocados should be ripe enough to eat. If you'll use them within 5 days, you can just take them out of the box as you need them. If you need them to last longer than that, move a few the fridge or cooler, storing them in the same way - wrapped in a towel and contained in a box. This uses a bit more space, but will result in perfect avocados every time!