Eating avocados

Absolutely, we love to see new avocado recipes. Please send it to communications@nzavocado.co.nz

Avocados should be eaten when the skin is purple/brown and the flesh is a green/yellow colour. Once the flesh starts going brown the avocado is starting to rot. If there is a small amount of brown flesh the green part can still be eaten but it’s best to avoid eating brown flesh.

Yes, avocado oil is very healthy and great for the eyes, skin and heart. It’s great as a 1 to 1 substitute for savoury recipes, sauces and dressings. For baking we would recommend using fresh avocado as a substitute for oil or butter. Due to their mono and polyunsaturated fat content, avocados are a great substitution for foods rich in saturated fat.

Yes, avocados are a great substitute for butter on toast, sandwiches and in baking. Using avocados instead of butter helps to lower the calorie count and add nutrients into your baking. Use ½ the amount of mashed avocado for the substitute. Check out our baking recipes here.

Yes, definitely. Avocados are full of folate which is essential during pregnancy and vital for healthy growth and development for all ages. Find out more here.

Avocados are packed with almost 20 nutrients. They are a nutrient-dense fruit that plays a major role in healthy diets, contributing almost 20 vitamins, nutrients and phytonutrients. Also, avocados are an excellent source of healthy monounsaturated fats, are cholesterol-free and have naturally low levels of sugar and sodium.

The body needs fats as they are vital for good health and avocados are an excellent source of healthy monounsaturated fats.  There has been a steady rise in the popularity of adding healthy plant sources of fats such as avocado to well-balanced diets. Wherever you find fat, all three types of fat will be present: monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated but just in different amounts. In plant foods such as avocado, the majority of the fat is the healthy kind: 60% monounsaturated fat and 12% polyunsaturated fat. Half an avocado contains 15g of monounsaturated fat and 3 g of polyunsaturated fat.

One-half of a medium avocado (83.5g) has 893 Kilojoules or 213 calories and contributes nearly 20 vitamins and minerals making it a good nutrient choice. See more about the nutrition qualities here.

Hass avocados are ready to eat when their skin is a purple brown colour (no need to squeeze). See our selection guide for more information.

Avocados will ripen in your fruit bowl but to accelerate the process, pop in a brown paper bag and include a banana or apple. These other fruits give off ethylene gas, which is a ripening agent. To find out more click here.

We definitely don’t recommend this – we find it damages the fruit. Please see how ripening guide here

Uncut ripe avocados can be refrigerated for a few days. Once cut, lemon juice and vinegar can be used to stop from browning or puree with lemon juice and freeze. For more information on storage click here.

There are a number of ways to combat oxidisation on the freshly cut flesh of avocados: store in an air tight container or cover the flesh in lemon juices or wrap in glad wrap.