Whats the best and quickest way to ripen avocados?
First be sure you buy the best avocados, which I think are the Haas avocados from California. The Haas avocados are the smaller pear shaped ones which, when ripe, have an almost blue black hue. Don’t buy fully ripened avocados; chances are they will bruise on the way home. Instead buy firm ones, with dark green skin; set them on the counter at room temperature to ripen in a couple of days. You can tell they are ripe if the color looks almost black and the stem end yields slightly when gently pressed. Once ripe, refrigerate them so they don’t overripen. To speed up the ripening process, set the firm unripe avocado in a brown paper bag along with a tomato and set the bag in the warmest part of your kitchen. The ethylene gas in both the avocado and the tomato will cut the ripening process in half.
