When Do Avocados Ripen? Ripening Seasons and Months Explained

Avocados fall mainly into three major groups: Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indian. Their cultivation history is less than 100 years, yet they are already widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions, with the United States, Guatemala, Mexico and Cuba cultivating the most. They get the name "butter fruit" because the flesh tastes much like butter, and because the skin is rough like crocodile skin, they are also called crocodile fruit or avocado. Let's take a look below at when avocados ripen!

Where are avocados grown?

Avocados originated in Mexico and Central America, and were later widely planted in California, which made California the world's largest avocado producing area. They are grown throughout the world's tropical and subtropical regions, but are cultivated most in the southern United States, Guatemala, Mexico and Cuba, and have formed three major groups: the Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indian. In China, small amounts are cultivated in Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Guangxi, Taiwan, China, Yunnan and Sichuan.

When do avocados ripen?

In southern China, avocados flower in March and the fruit ripens from August to September, generally bearing fruit after 3 to 4 years of planting. The avocado is a fleshy drupe; when ripe, the skin goes from yellow-green, reddish-brown to brown. The fruit is 5 to 20 cm long and 3 to 14 cm in diameter, and after ripening the skin turns yellow-green, creamy yellow, brown or dark green. The flesh is slightly soft, creamy white, pale yellow or creamy yellow in color, extremely fine in texture, with an egg-yolk flavor, slightly sweet, and a single fruit weighs 150 to 1500 grams.

How are avocados stored for a long time?

1. Judging ripeness: When an avocado is unripe, its skin is bright green; as it sits, it gradually ripens and the skin gradually darkens. When fully ripe, the skin turns ink-black and feels a little soft when squeezed, and that is when it can be eaten. Do not cut open or eat an unripe avocado; if it is not ripe, it cannot be eaten.

2. Storage time: How long an avocado keeps depends on the fruit's ripeness and the storage environment. You can judge it specifically by the standards for telling ripeness, and be careful not to leave it too long and fail to notice that it has gone bad.

3. Room-temperature storage: Avocados that are not very ripe will ripen naturally after 3 to 5 days at room temperature, while unripe avocados can be kept for 5 to 7 days.

4. Refrigerated storage: The best refrigeration temperature is 4 to 8°C, and it must not go below 4°C to avoid chilling injury. Depending on the degree of ripeness, refrigerated storage time is generally 5 to 10 days.

5. Storage after cutting: Once cut, the avocado flesh is exposed to the air and easily turns black. If you only use half at a time, be sure to keep the half with the pit, do not remove the pit, sprinkle on lemon juice, wrap it well with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator.