Danielle Moore
An avocado can quickly turn brown on the inside. But is the fruit then still edible or is it already bad and should it no longer be eaten? It depends.
Avocados are delicious and healthy, but unfortunately often expensive. And they use a lot of water to grow. It is all the more important to fully enjoy the tasty fruit when eating it and not to throw anything away. However, it can quickly happen that an avocado turns brown on the inside. Is it still edible or is it already bad? Different cases must be distinguished.
Avocado has brown spots inside under the skin
If you cut open an avocado and the fruit has brown spots just under the skin, these are usually bruises. Normally you can simply cut them off and eat the rest of the fruit. Consume the rest of the fruit without hesitation.
Avocado has brown threads inside
The fruit may be streaked with brown threads. This is a sign of an overripe avocado. In this case, the fruit may already be spoiled. Be sure to check the flesh for mold. If there are no moldy spots and the fruit doesn’t smell spoiled, you can still eat the avocado.
However, once it shows signs of mold, you should stop eating the whole fruit. In this case, it is not enough to simply cut away the moldy area, as the mold spores may have spread throughout the flesh.
The avocado is brown inside after cutting open
If you cut the fruit open and the flesh comes into contact with air, the surface will oxidize. This in no way means that the sliced avocado is bad. On the contrary: the fruit is still edible. If you are bothered by the brown surface, you can also scrape it off.
Or don’t let it get that far in the first place, because there are several ways to avoid discoloration:
- Lemon Juice: Simply sprinkle the surface with a little lemon juice. This ensures that the surface discolors more slowly. This lemon juice trick is also used when making guacamole to preserve the green color.
- Olive oil: Rub the cut surface with olive oil to avoid discoloration.
- Leave the pit in the fruit: If you only eat half and want to store the other half, it is worth leaving the pit in. As a result, the core protects the underlying pulp from oxidizing.
Avoid brown avocados when you buy them
You can easily determine the degree of ripeness of an avocado with the help of the pressure test. It is best to use the palm of your hand instead of just one finger to avoid pressure points. The more the peel gives, the riper the fruit. If it already feels mushy and the skin has caved in, it can be assumed that the fruit is already overripe and, in the worst case, bad.
Another possibility is the stalk trick: If the spot where the stalk was is green, it can be assumed that the pulp is still green and edible. If the stalk is brownish, the avocado is probably also brown on the inside.
