@c16h16n2o2

1 month ago

Many years ago, stayed at a place with a giant avocado tree in the back yard. It had thin skinned green fruit similar to yours. It was suggested that it may have been the "bacon" variety, but I dunno.

Squirrels would often drop 20+ in a day with just a few nibbles taken out of them, and much of the fruit landed on concrete. As you know, any compromised area in the skin of an avocado, inclusive of where the stem was attached, can lead to the fruit going bad before it can ripen.

Found a way to salvage the damaged fruit. Slice away any nibbles or impact spots, then use a spray bottle to generously apply hydrogen peroxide to any open wounds on the fruit. Allow it to dry, then store them as you normally would being careful to not compromise the sanitized area. The open wound will turn into a leathery skin as the fruit ripens.

I never noticed any impact on the flavor of an avocado salvaged in this manner, except maybe when I experimented with removing the seed prior to ripening. Fun fact for those unaware: when an avocado is left on the tree, the flesh will outgrow the seed and you can feel/hear the seed rattling around when you shake the fruit.

Eventually dealt with the issue of squirrels having easy access, but avocados still occasionally hit the concrete. They usually weighed 0.5-1 lb, so the impact could be quite severe. Continued using hydrogen peroxide to treat the stem spot and any other damage spots on every avocado harvested.

Damn, I miss that tree.

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