In recent years, avocados have been hailed as a healthy superfood for weight loss and heart protection, and are deeply loved by the public. However, the avocados people bring home are often rock hard and completely inedible. A top influencer with tens of millions of followers teaches 4 major ripening tricks, and placing them next to bananas also works.
American influencer Alan Mandell, with tens of millions of followers, recently shared 4 quick ripening tricks that can be easily done at home, helping everyone greatly shorten the waiting time and enjoy delicious avocados at any time:
1. Put Them Together with Bananas
If you have bought unripe avocados, you can put them together with bananas. Because bananas release natural ethylene, and ethylene can effectively activate the ripening mechanism of fruit, placing avocados next to bananas can help them ripen and soften faster.
2. Put Them in a Paper Bag
Putting unripe avocados in a paper bag can likewise accelerate their ripening. Because avocados themselves also produce ethylene, if you additionally put a banana or apple in the paper bag, you can further speed up the avocado's ripening. Besides bananas and apples, tomatoes, potatoes, kiwis, and mangoes also produce ethylene. If you do not have bananas or apples on hand, placing unripe avocados next to these fruits and vegetables is equally effective.
3. Put Them by the Window in the Sun
Avocados like sunlight. Besides placing them on a general kitchen counter, you can also move unripe avocados to the windowsill. Let them receive direct sunlight to help speed up the ripening process.
4. Wrap Them in Aluminum Foil and Put Them in the Oven
If the avocado's skin is not completely dark green, you can try this ultimate emergency method. Wrap the avocado completely in aluminum foil and put it in the oven at about 100°C for 10 minutes. After taking it out, the avocado will become very soft. Then simply put it back in the fridge to chill for a while, and it is ready to eat once completely cooled.
5 Major Benefits of Avocados—Can They Effectively Lower Cholesterol?
Besides having tricks for ripening, eating avocados in daily life brings great benefits to the body. Dietitian Kao Min-min once posted on her Facebook page that green-skinned avocados do not change color when ripe; as long as they feel soft to the touch, it means they are fully ripe and ready to eat. Red-skinned avocados, after ripening, will gradually turn from green to dark brown. When the skin goes from smooth and glossy to slightly wrinkled and dark purplish-red, it is ready to taste.
Lower cholesterol: Avocados are rich in beta-sitosterol, which can inhibit absorption in the small intestine and reduce "bad cholesterol" in the body, including low-density lipoprotein (LDL).
Burn fat: Avocados contain the mineral selenium, which helps burn fat.
Keep blood vessels clear: Avocados provide essential fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids for the human body, helping with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and regulating vitamin function.
Beautify the skin: Avocados are rich in vitamin C, which helps fight stress, increases skin protection, and beautifies the skin.
High antioxidant capacity: Avocados are rich in vitamin E and have strong antioxidant capacity, fighting skin free radicals and helping to moisturize the skin.
