Is it just in H.B. that supermarket stocks of avocados are plentiful but horrible? They are still selling Hass, but I imagine they have been wrongly stored - the texture is slimy, watery, quite unpleasant. Is this your experience in other parts of the country? I bought a couple of Fuerte from a stall and they were all right, although Fuerte are never as good as Hass at their best.
Interested
Stephanie

Stephanie, its in Hamilton too. I tried at the weekend to buy some decent ones but they had all been cool stored and were as hard as rocks and inedible. The ones that were ripe were over ripe and not even worth making guacamole with. They must have had a glut and are now getting rid of them

Helen Bell.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2006 04:23AM by Helen Bell.

I have not been able to find any good ones in ChCh as well. Very annoying as we love Avo.

When is avo season?

I had a 5kg case of Hass delivered and they are delicious. Have had another type can't remember the name, look like hass but smooth skinned, I quite like those ones too.
jen

I have regular supplies delivered in 5 kg lots from Katikati and they are beyond compare. I keep them in a separate fridge and a few out of, ripening for immediate use. I think avo season is about to commence as my avo orchard has told me they are looking good.

It seems that getting them from the growers is the only way to go. My late parents lived on the outskirts of Tauranga and used to keep us well supplied with the 'beyond compare' sort. There are good growers down here but they weren't at the market last Sunday. How much do you, Kerry and Jen, pay for yours?
Regards
Stephanie

Hass avocados from my grocer in Auckland are appalling - brown flecks in the flesh and bruised and horrible texture.

I thought they were imported from Au. or perhaps cold stored from the end of summer.

We had some from the Matakana market a week or so ago that were grown in Northland and they were superb.

If anyone has contact details for growers, please feel free to share ....

Thanks

No decent ones in new Plymouth either!!!

judith

I agree Jojo. spill the beans, or should I say avocados!!!

This is from where I obtain mine.
[www.avodirect.co.nz]

Befv, I bought a few from Raeward Fresh and ripened them in the fruit bowl before refrigerating and they were beautiful. I never buy the ' ready now' ones as they are usually bruised and horrible inside.

Clare

Hi Clare
The last few I have bought have either been stringy or felt firm on the outside but been black on the inside. I will take a trip out to Raeward Fresh. Thanks.
Bev

Ecoavo is the company, organic, grown in Katikati. I pay around $36.00 for a 5kg case including delivery. I buy several times a year, and make sure I have a case in over Christmas. Had a case sent to a friend as a Christmas gift this year and they were well appreciated.
jen


<[email protected]>

How long will they last, if you receive so many, won't they go off in a week or two?

I was at a food tradefair this week, and Watties are marketing large bags of frozen peeled avocadoes and containers of avocado pulp to trade.
The frozen were halved, peeled and no stones and freeflow. If they can do it, it made me wonder why you couldn't do it at home.

I can't imagine, Irene, that this would work? Did they offer tasting samples? A year or two ago at a food related business meeting a young man was offering highly chilli spiced avocado deep fried. It was disgusting! In my experience avocado is not enhanced by freezing or cooking. I wonder who uses the Watties product? And what for? Fascinating!

I did try a sample of both a pre-frozen avocado and then the pulp, and to be honest Stephanie, I couldn't tell the difference from eating a fresh one. But I am wondering how they can freeze them and they looked so perfect, as you would think with no stone they would brown. When avo's are decent, I might just try it with one, halved, peeled, no stone in a snaplock bag and see what happens

I put the majority of the avos in the fridge and take them out a couple of days before I need them. They sit in the fruit bowl with apples and oranges or whatever and ripen fairly quickly. Have been having them for breakfast on toast recently and they are devine.
jen

I am coming rather late to this interesting thread. I too have been upset at paying at times so much for avocados and then to find that although they feel firm but because they have turned dark seem to be ready to use, only to find that the inside is disgusting. For ages now I have only bought green, rock hard avocados and leave them to ripen in my fruit bowl, so they have not been bruised through handling, but I have still had really bad ones this way too. I will give ordering from a grower a go. For how long would they keep in the fridge before they go off? I would only use 1 a day but of course more when I make an avocado and orange salad. It's only two of us in our household.

It sometimes depends on what variety of avocado too.I think it's too late to get decent Hass avos and the other varieties don't really darken as they ripen, if they are dark then they are past their best.

The recent case are hass, I was lucky that my supplier emailed to say he had some, as they were snapped up pretty quickly. I have had them about 3 weeks now and are still okay in the fridge. I use them most meal times, and they make a quick easy lunch.
Hope this helps. the avos I get are organic and sometimes doen't look that wonderful but are quite yummy.
jen

Forgot to add; a good way to check if the avocado is ripe or over ripe is to remove the wee 'button" and insert a toothpick, if the toothpick easily penetrates the flesh then it's ready to eat, if there is some resistance it is worthy salad material, or has a couple of days shelf life left. The flesh should be green with no hint of mould or other nasties at the site ot the button..
0f course it's not practical to carry a toothpick or similar with you when purchasing avos, but removing the button should give some indication as to whether it's good enough to take home. The button can be replaced and no harm will come to the fruit, so it can be checked as often as needed.

Hope I am not preaching to the converted here, but I just thought I'd pass it on.
jen

Jen approx how many would you get for 5kg, and how long have you been able to keep them in the fridge?

I've ordered a 5kg box from the same grower as Jen, after reading this thread. They should arrive this week. I've been buying from supermarkets as green bullets (the harder the better) keeping in the fridge for say up to 3 weeks, ripening them myself and it has been successful. I'm expecting these ones from the grower will be fabulous!

Sprinkled with a little lemon or lime juice and groung fresh pepper, of course !

My last order was dated 4th September and I still have 16 left in the fridge. I've never actually counted how many, but seems heaps. I have always been happy with the avos I get from the grower.
jen

I am not an expert on avos, but we do have a few trees of the Hass variety, in Bay of Plenty. Unfortunately ours were hit (along with others in the area) by a sudden cold snap around Nov last year - that snap arrived around the time of fruit set, and they simply dropped off. The result is no fruit this year.

The current problem is likely one of storage in temps that are too cool, or fluctuating. The stone freezes and then thaws. The outside will look OK, but the inside not so great and the flavour uninteresting.

New seasons avos should be on stream shortly - we would have been picking from mid Oct. Our fruit is always a consistent green inside and flavoursome - just the way they should be. Because we are 'little' our fruit is just sold to locals - and a littel bit further afield, but not through a marketing operation. The northern areas can pick earlier. Road side stalls are probably the best option right now. Aim for fruit that are still green and hard and with a bit of a stalk in them. The fruit will 'hold' in the fridge in the condition they were put there. Avoid storing close to an icebox section of the fridge, where the temp may be lower. They will start to ripen once taken out. (That is why they export so well). At this time of the year I am taking fruit out of the fridge about 10 days before I need them. As the season progresses they require less time to ripen. Jilly.

That's very informative, Jilly, thank you! You are expert enough for us. It does the avocado industry no good at all for supermarkets to be selling such badly stored fruit. Who, I wonder, is responsible? I pass by the piles of misleadingly good looking avocados @ $1.99, and feel quite cross that customers who buy them in good faith will inevitably be disappointed.
I'd buy from you very gladly if I was near enough.
Regards
Stephanie