A woman tried out a ripe avocado hack that claims to achieve fast avocado ripening in just 10 minutes using a simple kitchen staple - but does it actually work?
The Avocado Dilemma
Avocados are widely celebrated as a superfood, packed with beneficial monounsaturated fats, dietary fibre, and vital vitamins including K, E, and B-complex. Regular consumption has been linked to improved cardiovascular health, better digestion, stabilised blood sugar levels, and healthier-looking skin.
However, buying avocados can often feel like a gamble, as they appear to go from completely unripe to overripe in what seems like the blink of an eye. Although there are methods to determine whether an avocado is ready to eat, such as observing the skin transition from green to a deep brown colour, or gently squeezing the fruit to check for the ideal softness, it can still feel like a bit of a risk when picking them up at the supermarket.
The Viral Hack
Now, however, a woman named Nicole, who works for recipe website AllRecipes, has shared her experience of testing a so-called 'hack' that purportedly ripens avocados in just 10 minutes. But does it actually deliver on its promise?
"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 show viewers the avocado, demonstrating that it wasn't ready to eat, with firm, dark green skin — a reliable indicator that the fruit wasn't yet ready to eat.
The Experiment
Nicole then wrapped the avocado in aluminium foil before placing it in a bowl. She also covered a second unripe avocado in foil and put it in the same bowl, in order to properly put the kitchen hack to the test. The following stage involved pouring boiling water over the avocados in the bowl, ensuring they were fully submerged, before leaving them to rest 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. Once the ten minutes had elapsed, Nicole used tongs to retrieve the avocados, before carefully removing the foil. Looking at one, she noted it appeared 'like a cooked avocado more than a ripened one'.
The Surprising Results
Despite this, she pressed ahead and cut the avocado open, and was astounded by what she discovered inside. While unripe avocados are typically tricky to slice through, the knife glided effortlessly through the fruit as she took care approaching the stone within. Much like a naturally ripened avocado, the flesh inside was a vivid light green, with the areas nearest to the skin appearing slightly deeper in colour, giving it the appearance of a perfectly ripened specimen.
"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."
