Does it matter what kind of onion?

I don’t know. I used a red onion because it was what I had. I haven’t seen a type of onion specified whenever I’ve seen this ”hack.”

Great! Thank-you for sharing this! I've heard some whoppers about what both avocados and onions can do, but this didn't sound impossible even before your experimental evidence. So cool the way the scientific method can improve one's life!

Thank you! I’ll try it.

Wait … I never have avocado I didn’t eat immediately. I could eat my weight in it. :D

“I never have avocado I didn’t eat immediately.”

Agree! We have an avocado tree that’s been great but seems to be on the decline.😞

Just thinking…haven’t heard Sara Moulton’s name in a long time. One of my favorite tips came from a caller on her show long ago…use a potato ricer to squeeze liquid out of defrosted, chopped spinach. Have done it over and over and over…

I listen to the 177 Milk Street podcast with Christopher Kimball. She is on there. She has her own cooking show too, Sara’s Weeknight Meals, on PBS. https://saramoulton.com/shows/

I need to add the ricer hack to my bag of tricks!

@bbstx I love the milk street podcasts. Sara’s great.

I'm curious about the one that says to store avacodos (whole, unpeeled) submerged in a container of water. They are supposed to last a very long time.

It's not a good idea to store whole the avocados in water. Even if you clean them before putting them in water there could be bacteria on the skin - and the water would provide a good environment for it to grow.

Besides, I've had good results with simply keeping ripe avocados in the refrigerator.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-store-avocados-safely/

@bbstx - What's the ricer hack?

Good to know about the avacados, thanks terezosa!

So glad I don't need to start a new topic on avocados. I usually eat one avocado a day, either in a salad or with chips. At the moment because of dental work I can't eat either.

I have about 5 avocados and I'm trying to figure out a way I can eat them. If I spread either bean dip/refried beans & avocado on a flour tortilla, would it soften the tortilla so I can gum it? Only lower side teeth, the main ones I use to chew with. :)

I'm a picky eater so please tell me a good way to eat an avocado. I don't like them alone so it has to be with something else. BTW, I have an allergy to avocados but if I eat them with something else I'm fine.

You can use avocados to make a blender chocolate pudding. Hubby makes it when we have a lot of avocados...

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/avocado-pudding-5419281

Oakley, I think that I would just give the avocados away rather than risk dental work/allergy interaction.

Terezosa, I haven't had an allergic reaction in years but I'm always aware it could happen again so I'm not really worried about it. I just don't like them plain. The doctor gave me the okay on Monday to eat what I want except hard and crispy foods.

I think I'll put an avocado in a baggie so it will be ready for guacomole tomorrow. Can't wait!

I've not heard the onion trick. Must try it. But leaving the stone in the unused half also stops it going brown. Or rubbing half a lemon on the cut surface. We can't grow avocados so they're rather precious. I usually just serve a half with a teaspoon of good olive oil, a drop of balsamic vinegar and some chopped tomato. Not very fond of smashed avocado on toast but do make guacamole if I have one that's gone over a bit. They're too expensive to use as a moist ingredient in cakes and such where they're not going to be the star. I remember seeing avocadoes lying around trees in Guadeloupe, like windfall apples do here. Thousands of pounds worth if they were in a shop here.😢

@terezosa / terriks the ricer hack was in the comment by chloebud:

Just thinking…haven’t heard Sara Moulton’s name in a long time. One of my favorite tips came from a caller on her show long ago…use a potato ricer to squeeze liquid out of defrosted, chopped spinach. Have done it over and over and over…

DD has used the water-submersion method to hold a cut avocado. I thought it changed the texture of the avocado flesh…not in a good way. I’ll have to let her know about the listeria problem.

Regarding the ricer, Sara Moulton was using a kitchen towel to squeeze the liquid from spinach. Someone called to let her know a ricer did a better job. Sara stared at the camera and said, ”That’s brilliant!” It really is when you’re making something like a spinach gratin that calls for 3 pounds of defrosted, chopped spinach.

You can also use a folding steamer basket.

https://www.cuisineathome.com/tips/spinach-success/

Interesting tip! And I enjoy watching Sara--like her very much.

Taste-wise, I'm neutral on avocadoes. I can take them or leave them, but I take them for health reasons. I refrigerate to pause ripening, and time them carefully. That old joke, "Sorry, I can't tonight. I've got to eat my avocado."

I once sent the ricer tip for spinach to Fine Cooking magazine when they had a “Readers’ Tips” section. They had some nice prizes if your tip was used in the magazine, especially as their ”Top Pick.” They picked the ricer tip, and I got a Le Creuset stock pot. I kind of felt like I should have sent it to that caller on Sara’s show!

You were brought up well. :) I invented a cousin of that tip on my own, which I've posted. I bought and use a lever press citrus squeezer—the kind with the extra steel presser inside—for the same purpose (never use it on citrus). So as an originator of the same concept, I bestow on you a pass on the lingering twinge of guilt.

That’s so funny, bb (and true). 😂

Very true, bbstx! One of several nice things about having an avocado tree is the fruit doesn’t ripen on the tree. It will “hold“ there until you’re ready.🥑👍🏻

I've never heard of this. Thank you! I often have some leftover onion and often use half an avocado at a time. Sometimes I'll just slice a thin sliver of the brown off of the avocado, but it's annoying when the brown gets deep.

I have this avocado saver and it works really well. I may put a piece of onion in the pit area the next time that I use it to see if it makes the avocado last even longer.

@terezosa / terriks, someone gave me this one, but we rarely have avocado left over.

What I like about the avocado keeper that I have is that the silicon on top pushes the avocado down onto the flat surface and keeps it from being exposed to the air. For it to work the best you need to put the avocado half without the pit face down on the flat part.

@bbstx hilarious.

leaving the stone in the unused half also stops it going brown.

This has not proven the case for me. Will try onion!

So the browning is oxidation, which is why acid helps, as in the lemon juice (or juice run out of your tomato), It sounds like the onion is just in the container, not pressed up against the cut side, which means that the gassing out of the onion is probably what's doing the trick, but I don't have time to research.

While the fancy holder is nice, it's just pressing up against the cut side, keeping out the air. That's what leaving the pit in does too--keeps out the air. If you don't care for plastic but are okay with silicone, the holder is perfect. The covered ones also help protect the whole thing from whatever it bumps into. But if you don't have a pod you can just use plastic wrap. Press the plastic carefully flat against the cut side and twist around the back to keep it tight, then put it in a container or baggie.

Floral, worry not about the windfalls. The squirrels will eat them. They won't go to waste. I live in avocadoland, including several trees I "planted" when I was three and my mother let me play with the pits. We never have frost. There are all kinds of things y'all grow which I've only seen in books. What I've been hankering for lately, and used to be available at the local chain grocery before the pandemic, is rambutan. They definitely do not grow here. When I was young, I saw (adjusted to today's value) a what would now be $30 pineapple at a Christmas market in Germany. I was appalled. They're currently $3.79 each at the local store, and they're not local, although they can grow here, unlike the rambutan. Sometimes, an apple is a better choice all around.

I love tropical fruit of all kinds. I think my favourite is probably Lychee. But you can have too much of a good thing and sometimes on my travels I've had enough of soft sweet stuff and do hanker after a fresh, crisp, juicy apple. At the moment we're drowning in greengages but the apples will be starting soon.

I love the flavour of greengage plums. I remember eating so many one summer in England that I got that tummy ache.:They are quite rare here. I have planted a tree in a couple of the country holiday homes we have owned but we always move before fruiting. I ’ve planted again (3 years ) but as yet no fruit.

Avocados are plentiful and cheap if you don’t have a tree. I often whizz up the avocado, cacao, honey concoction as a healthy chocolate mousse. So satisfyingly decadent.

Avocados are plentiful here in SoCal but not exactly cheap. The really nice ones can be $1.50 to $2 each. You can find small ones for about $4 for a bag of 6. The cheapest I’ve seen was when a neighbor put some out in a wagon for 50 cents each. They were big, beautiful and gone in a blink. It was kind of sweet with the wagon loaded with avocados at the curb, brown paper bags and a container for money. Total honor system that worked.

My greengage tree

Neighbour's apple which luckily hangs over the fence into our garden.

Very envious of your laden greengage floral.

I’m really on the ”onion” bandwagon. Yesterday, I had several slices of avocado left when I made my BLT. I left them on the saucer, laid a very small piece of onion on the saucer, and covered it all with cling wrap. This morning, the avocado still looked perfect!