Don’t judge a fruit by its colour!
If humans thought green only meant unripened, we would never have discovered avocados.
Darkly green-skinned, avos are all delicious, healthy and useful – they can be added to most meals which usually improves them.
While they are harvested seasonally, we are spoilt in South Africa because avocados are available almost all-year round because of the many varieties being grown in different areas of the country.
Early season fruit is available from March and the last of the local season comes to market in November. Green-skinned avo varieties – including the Fuerte, Edranol, Ryan, Reed and Pinkerton – are available until October.
The dark-skinned Hass avocados – including the Hass, Carmen-Hass, Gem and Maluma – are ready to eat from March until November.
The beautifully creamy, slightly nutty Hass range of avocados have a hard, thick, pebbly skin that makes it oh-so-simple to serve, peel and eat half an avo raw.
The skin colour of Hass type avos assists in telling whether the fruit is ripe or not: they usually turn from green to a dark purple-brown as they ripen.
Green-skinned avocados really do melt-in-your-mouth. To test for ripeness with these easy-to-bruise varieties, simply give a gentle squeeze in the palm of your hand.
You can also feel the stalk because it should fall off easily when the avocado is ready to eat.
