Jade Small
Jade Small
January 5, 2019 ·  3 min read

Life-changing: Here’s How To Perfectly Freeze Your Avocados

Avocados are one of those fruits you generally don’t just put in the freezer. They tend to lose their texture very quickly and go miserably soft, just like bananas. And like apples, you can’t cut avocados open and leave them lying around for a few minutes, or put them smack in the freezer like that. The yellowish flesh will start taking on a brown coloration almost immediately. Polyphenol oxidase is an enzyme present in avocados. It reacts with oxygen once the fruit is exposed to air, and the surface of the flesh quickly starts turning brown. It’s still safe to eat in the first few minutes, but it becomes very unappealing after a while.

How do most people preserve their avocados?

People do a variety of things to try to keep their avocados fresh. Some people cut them open and spray lemon or lime juice on the surface of the flesh. They still go brown. Some people don’t freeze them; instead, they refrigerate at a higher temperature, thinking that too much cold will ruin it. The texture still turns mushy, and the fruits will start to go brown on the inside. Other people put them in bags or envelopes, believing it will keep the air out. They still go mushy and brown. These are the reasons why people don’t buy avocados in bulk.

A lot of people don’t know freezing is possible.

I came across some incredible videos on Instagram about two weeks ago, and they’ve literally changed my avocado game ever since. Natasha Mueller (@autoimmune_realfood_rx) is the smart mum of two who shared this ingenious idea about avocado preservation. She first realized the need for this to be made public while she was waiting in line at a retail market. People were stunned at the number of avocados she had bought, and they wondered how she was planning to keep them all fresh. She casually said she was going to freeze them and people literally laughed at her. She began to explain how she does it so that the avocados don’t go mushy or brown, and everyone was shocked at this method.

How to actually pull this off

After that episode, Natasha felt she had to reach more people, and she took to her Instagram page to share this knowledge. Avocados can actually last up to four solid months if you freeze them right, and it’s a straightforward process.

Here’s what you need to get started:

1. The avocados (of course)
2. A sharp kitchen knife
3. A straw
4. A Ziploc bag.

Procedure:

1. Cut each avocado in half, going around the seed, so you don’t slice it too. Separate the halves and take the seed out. Don’t freeze it or throw it away. It has a lot of health benefits and can be cooked and used in several delicacies.
2. Place each half in the Ziploc bag and seal it, leaving just a little area for the straw to go in.
3. Stick in the straw and do a vacuum-seal, sucking out every bit of air in the bag. Don’t yank the straw out roughly. Slowly extract it and seal the bag finally once it’s out.
4. The avocados are now ready to go into the freezer.

And that’s about it. Avocados can be frozen, but only if you ensure that all the air is gone, so there’s nothing to oxidize them. It’s best to cut them open before using this method because if you leave them whole and vacuum-seal, they’ll still go mushy inside. Keep your freezer on always, and your avocados can last up to four months or longer.

1. Matt Gilligan. 2018. Game-changer: You can freeze avocados!! Retrieved from https://didyouknowfacts.com/you-can-freeze-avocados
2. Natasha Labrielle-Mueller. Avocado freezing steps. Retrieved from www.instagram.com
3. Admin. 2014, August 3. Why do avocados turn brown? – The chemistry of avocados.Retrieved from www.compoundchem.com