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Why are avocados so good for us?
Avocados contain a lot of fibre and are a great source of vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and the phytonutrient lutein which is great for eye health.

They are quite high in fat which is unusual for a fruit but it’s mainly the “good” type of fats ie the monosaturated type.

They are really versatile.  Half an avocado with some cream cheese is a filling snack, they work great in salads and I love them with all sorts of egg dishes.

The art of storing avocados
And it does feel like an art sometimes!  Often buying them and then ending up throwing them out because they are either too hard, overripe or blackened. Sound familiar?!

The way we store them can help with this, so here are my tips on choosing and storing avocados:

• – Buy them quite hard and let them ripen in your kitchen
• – Store them in the fruit bowl (room temperature), next to the bananas – the bananas help them to ripen up
• – How to tell if an avocado is ready to eat: touch it around the stem, it should “give” to the pressure of your finger and the stem should indent easily into the flesh.
• – Once they are ripe, use them. You can slow down the ripening a bit by putting them in the fridge but you don’t have long, so use them.
• – Once you have cut an avocado in half, leave the stone in the piece you are not using, and cover the flesh. Try a silicone pod made especially for avocados.  Lakeland do some or use Beeswrap.
• – Keeping the stone in as well as covering the flesh are both important to stop it blackening. If it does blacken on the surface, try just scraping that off, if it has not been too long (e.g. 24 hours) then the deeper flesh will still be fresh.

Follow these tips and you will enjoy more of your avocado and minimise the food waste.

Is there a food you are not sure how to store or use?
Let me know in the comments below, the chances are many others are wondering the same thing.