Have you been experiencing the avocado ripening dilemma, and wondering “why won’t my avocados ripen”? Indicators include never softening, cutting them open and not being able to scoop the avocado out, rubbery texture and having an undesirable flavor.
Don’t get me wrong, I love avocados! However, they are pretty expensive, so if I am going to buy an avocado, I want to be able to enjoy it. Which, I am sure you feel the same way! I have experienced this same issue buying avocados in bulk bags (bag of 6), as well as individually at the regular grocery store.
What Causes Rubbery Avocados that Won’t Ripen?
So, what’s the reason? As we learned in the avocado harvesting post, avocados do not ripen on the tree. Avocados undergo their ripening process after harvest, usually through the use of ethylene gas (a natural catalyst). However, in order to do this, avocados must have reached a certain maturity stage on the tree prior to ripening, in order to ripen after harvest. The maturity stage is referred to as physiological maturity, and is the minimum point at which the avocado can be harvested in order to ripen properly. (This is a similar process to tomatoes).
When an avocado field is reaching the physiological maturity stage, it is the grower’s responsibility to sample the avocados to see if they have reached the minimum oil content and dry weight, as those are the two universal harvest maturity indices (indicators of when avocados are ready to be harvested) among different avocado cultivars. The growers can measure the dry weight percentage and that is an indicator of the oil content that is contained within the edible portion of the avocado.
However, if the growers rush it and harvest the avocados early, they will not ripen properly after harvest because they never reached the physiological maturity stage on the tree.
Are There Certain Times of the Year When Rubbery Avocados are More Common?
Yes. This issue can occur when growers are trying to make it to the market at the beginning of the season to get a premium price, and decide to harvest early.
In California (the primary avocado growing region in the United States), there is a state law on the minimum oil content of the avocados in order to sell to the market. This helps regulate the market to make it fair for all California growers, to maintain a certain quality for consumers and to get repeat buys. However, when there are avocados coming in from different countries that do not follow the same minimum oil content requirements, that can quickly ruin the consumer experience.
Needless to say, it does pay to check where your avocados were grown, especially if you are currently experiencing a lot of bad quality avocados.
How to Avoid Avocados that Won’t Ripen?
If you are buying already ripe avocados, there will be no issue. If not, check to see where your avocados were grown before purchasing, especially if you are buying avocados that have not been ripened yet. As mentioned, California grown avocados are required by law to reach the physiological maturity prior to harvest. Other countries do not have those same requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I cut into an unripe avocado, will it continue to ripen afterwards?
No, avocados will not continue ripening after being cut open.
Are rubbery avocados good to eat?
If it is a hard avocado that is difficult to fork or spoon out, I do not recommend eating it. It is hard to prepare, hard to eat and hard to digest.
Will eating an unripe avocado make you sick?
No, it just won’t taste good and will be hard to chew.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also be interested in reading:
- What is Ethylene Gas & How is it Used?
- How is Your Produce Being “Washed”?
- Fruit and Vegetable Diseases: How Produce Becomes Infected with Disease
Resources:
Lee, S.K., Young, R.E., Schiffman, P.M., Coggins, Jr., C.W. “Maturity Studies of Avocado Fruit Based on Picking Dates and Dry Weight.” J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 108(3):390-394. 1983.
Yahia, E.M., Woolf, A.B. “Maturity, quality at harvest and phytonutrients.” Postharvest biology and technology of tropical and subtropical fruits, Volume 2: Açai to Citrus. Elhadi M. Yahia. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011. 136-140. Web.
Great idea to talk about this. Being a non animal, bird or reptile eater, produce department is one of my best friends.
Thanks!!
It unfortunately happens to all of us, but it’s good to know why!
I haven’t had a decent Avocado in I don’t know how long. I hate throwing money away!
The best time of the year to eat avocados is in February, that is when they are at their peak and full of oil.
You say that avocados will not continue ripening after being cut open. Mine certainly do if I wrap them in plastic wrap, because apparently it traps the ethylene gas they secrete and keeps it close enough to the flesh to ripen it. That’s a hack I learned from https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/a27322534/how-to-ripen-avocado/.
Don’t depend on just being “California grown.” A huge, national grocery store chain operating under a variety of names sells 4046 labeled avocados that often don’t ripen… 4 -5 days on the window sill and still hard as a rock!
Oops. I forgot to say that the rock hard avocados were labeled “Calif grown'”
I grew up in SoCal with an avocado tree. Never had a problem until I started buying from store. While I do check to see what country they are from, I never realized this could be the problem. Thanks for very useful information.
Thanks for your explanation. Have had my avocado sitting in a warm cupboard for days. Will deposit it in my compost heap for the worms to have a go at digesting it. Hope it doesn’t give them a stomach ache. 🙂