Unripe avocados will soften in minutes with a simple hack that actually works. One woman tried the popular avocado ripening hack that claims to soften unripe avocados in just 10 minutes to see if it really works — and the results left her floored.
The Avocado Ripening Challenge
Avocados are frequently championed as a superfood, packed with beneficial monounsaturated fats, dietary fibre, and vital vitamins including K, E, and B-complex. Regular consumption of avocados has also been associated with supporting heart health, aiding digestion, maintaining stable blood sugar levels, and encouraging radiant skin.
But purchasing avocados can often feel like taking a gamble, as they frequently seem to go from rock-hard to mushy in what feels like a matter of moments. While there are methods to determine whether an avocado is ready to eat — such as checking if the skin has turned from green to a dark brown shade, or gently squeezing the fruit to assess if it's perfectly soft — it can still feel like a bit of a lottery when you're at the shops.
Now, however, one woman called Nicole, who works at recipe website AllRecipes, has shared her experience of testing a 'hack' that promises to ripen avocados in a mere 10 minutes. But does it actually deliver?
The TikTok Experiment
"I'm gonna try out this hack that seems a little too good to be true. Can we ripen this avocado in ten minutes?" she wondered at the start of the TikTok video. She proceeded to display the avocado to viewers, demonstrating that it was indeed unripe, with the skin being dark green and firm — a clear sign that it still needed time.
Nicole then wrapped the avocado in aluminium foil before placing it in a bowl. She also covered a second unripe avocado in foil and positioned it in the same bowl, to thoroughly test the kitchen hack. The following step involved pouring boiling water over the avocados in the bowl, ensuring they were fully submerged, before leaving them to sit for ten minutes.
"My prediction is that it softens it. But does it really ripen it?" Nicole wondered as she poured the water over the avocados.
Surprising Results
Once the ten minutes had elapsed, Nicole used tongs to retrieve the avocados, before carefully unwrapping the foil. She went on to observe that they resembled 'a cooked avocado more than a ripened one'. Despite this, she pressed ahead and cut one of the avocados open, and was left astounded by what she discovered inside.
While unripe avocados are typically tricky to slice open, this one appeared effortless as she guided the knife through the fruit, taking care as she reached the stone within. Much like a naturally ripened avocado, the flesh inside was a vivid light green, with the areas closest to the skin appearing slightly darker, giving it the appearance of a perfectly ripened avocado.
"Wow," Nicole exclaimed. "This is softer than I expected." As she continued to mash it with a fork to demonstrate just how tender it had become, the burning question still remained — did it actually taste ripened?
After taking a bite, Nicole said: "Well, I'll be damned. I'm a little shook. It might not be quite as buttery as a ripe avocado, but it definitely gets the job done."
