I Tried the Viral Method for Keeping Avocados Ripe and It’s a Total Game-Changer

We’ve all seen the memes circulating the internet about how avocados break our hearts and betray our trust. Their edible lifecycle is fleeting — it moves from rock-hard to peak-ripeness before quickly becoming brown, rotten sadness. In my opinion, this wouldn’t be such a big deal if they weren’t as expensive as they are; produce is certainly not where my money should function as high-risk!

It took me a little time to learn that storing ripe avocados in the fridge buys me an extra three to four days, but that doesn’t always cut it. Especially when avocados are on sale at my local grocer: When that happens, I usually like to stock up, but sometimes I just can’t get through them all.

Imagine the hope I felt stumbling upon a hack on Twitter that promised over-ripened avocados were a thing of the past. They’re still stored in the fridge once they have ripened to your liking, but if kept submerged in water, they last even longer. Of course, I figured it was time to engage with the internet and test it myself.

I had just so happened to have four avocados that were approaching peak ripeness. So, testing out this hack was meant to be for me. To start, I placed the whole avocados in a container, covered them with water, and walked away. As the method has also gone viral on TikTok, most TikTokers said theirs kept up to five days, so that’s how I long I kept mine in the fridge.

On day five, I went in for the assessment. I started with the initial squeeze test and it passed — my finger didn’t plunge through the weakened skin into mushy flesh. Excellent. I sliced her open and behold! It was a sweet, perfectly ripened green manna from heaven. 

I ate half and stored the remaining half with the seed in a separate small container.  Not only does this hack work for whole avocados, but the thread also noted that halved and flesh-exposed avocados can be kept this way as well. So, the next day for lunch, when I had my heart set on a leftover burrito with a little guac, I went in to check on the other half of my fruit and, wouldn’t you know it — still as ripe as can be. I blotted the top with a paper towel and checked for water-logging or a change in texture. Neither were found, making it safe to eat.

Because this trick worked so well, I decided I was going to push the limits and store the remaining four avocados in the fridge as long as possible. My findings have given me a new lease on life. I was able to stretch the test for, get this … two full weeks! I finally dug into the fourth avocado after TWO WHOLE WEEKS of them being stored in my refrigerator in water. 

I will say, the longer they are kept, the integrity of the fruit does weaken. I noticed that by the time I got to the last avocado, the flesh was a bit waterlogged, which created slight mushiness. And as far as flavor goes, there was some missing pizzazz. But all in all, I’d say my research proved to be a success. This is a hack that can restore hope in the hearts of every avocado-loving human.

This post originally ran on Kitchn. See it there: I Tried the Viral Method for Keeping Avocados from Turning Brown and It’s a Game-Changer.