Ventura County UCCE Farm Advisor, Ben Faber shares his knowledge of avocados. Today’s topic:
The avocado is an amazing fruit. It grows on a tree and comes to maturity, reaches certain oil content and a stage at which it will ripen, but does not ripen on the tree. It needs to be removed from the tree before it will soften. If the fruit is removed before it has reached maturity it will not soften, and will remain rubbery and inedible. One of the problems is that the fruit will hang on the tree for an extended period of time and it is hard to know when they are mature. Avocados are not like apricots where you have about 2 weeks to get the fruit off before it falls off. As the fruit stays on the tree in gradually develops more and more oil content and has a richer flavor.
If the fruit stays on the tree too long, the oil can develop an almost rancid flavor, however. So it is good to know when the best, acceptable flavor is achieved. Avocado varieties fall into general seasonal periods when they are mature –‘Fuerte’ in winter, ‘Hass’ in spring/summer, ‘Lamb-Hass’ in summer/fall. Or you can pick a fruit and put it on the counter and watch to see if it softens evenly. If it does in a two week period, the rest on the tree are good to go.
