Don’t judge an avo by its colour!
There is a common misperception surrounding the dark-skinned varieties that, because they are not bright green, they must be rotten.
THEY say love is colour-blind.
Well, when it comes to delicious avocados, we could not agree more.
Whether light green, bright green, dark green or purple green, we love them all.
Not all avos look alike and there are green-skinned and dark-skinned avos.
Their tastes differ slightly, but they all have that trademark avocado melt-in-your-mouth texture and buttery flavour.
So what is the difference?
The colours indicate different varieties.
Fuerte, Edranol, Ryan, Reed and Pinkerton are all green-skinned avos, while Hass, Carmen®-Hass, Gem® and Maluma™ are dark-skinned.
There is a common misperception surrounding the dark-skinned varieties that, because they are not bright green, they must be rotten.
This could not be further from the truth.
Green-skinned avos do get dark spots when bruised or starting to go off, but dark-skinned avos actually darken further as they ripen.
A perfectly ripe Hass, for example, can be anything from a decadent dark green to purple or even black when ripe and ready to eat.
Do not squeeze avos to check their ripeness as that only leads to bruising and spoiling.
With green-skinned avos, rather test the stalk at the top of the fruit.
If it comes away easily, the fruit is ready.
With dark-skinned avos, watch their changing skin colour.
Available throughout the year
We are fortunate that the local avo season lasts almost all year-round.
Green-skinned Fuerte, Edranol and Ryan are available until August, September and October respectively, while the dark-skinned Hass is still available until October.
No matter their colour, South Africa’s avos are all delicious, nutritious and avo-solutely healthy.
For avolicious recipes visit www.avocado.co.za
