You know that old adage about Asians being unable to pass up a bargain?
It’s true.
When my gorgeous mother found these avocados at her local fruit market for 9c each, she just couldn’t resist. The store had a limit of thirty avos per person, so mum dragged my dad to the fruit shop with her, and they bought sixty between them. For $5.40.
Of course, my parents were never going to be able to eat sixty avocadoes, so yesterday they arrived with bags full, and announced that thirty were for me and twelve were for Maude. I felt it would have been ungrateful of me to point out that they were all going to ripen at the same time.
Moments like this always remind me how wonderful my family really is. Apart from being incredibly supportive, they’re also quirky and great fun. Let me give you an example. Last week at dinner, I inadvertently called my mother a goose. The sentence, “no, you goose, it’s not like that at all”, came out of my mouth before my frontal lobe had time to censor it. I smsed my sister to bid her farewell, as I am now dead, and she replied with, “I’ve lit a candle for you..”
Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this post is to ask for your help! What do I do with thirty avocados? They’re not ripe yet, but the first ones will be ready in the next day or so. They’re not recommended for chickens, and there’s only so many we can eat on toast every morning. I’d be grateful for any suggestions you might have, particularly on how to preserve them (I really do think most of them are going to ripen at the same time!).
Aahh…families…where would we be without them? I hope you’ll share stories about your families too – we’d love to hear them!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
wow! i just had red snapper for dinner (my husband and son went fishing today) with a side of avocado! its past dinner time here in puerto rico. its funny that today’s news paper recipe section included 3 recipes with avocado!!!! one was gazpacho with avocado, costini with avocado salad (red onion, tomato, mango, lemon,cilantro) and cold avocado soup (veg broth, lemon zest,yogurt, fresh herbs) with shrimp. there is a mexican restaurant here famous for chicken tortilla soup with chopped avocado inside, very tasty. of course the traditional guacamole with chips. i also like caprese tricolore salad which has tomato, mozzarella and avocado. the newspaper article said that in brazil, avocado is used to make a dessert and served with ice cream…? maybe you can use my vanilla flan recipe and add avocado in the mix as a dessert. in the Filipines they make avocado smoothies with milk and sugar. hope this helps… you are lucky to have such a loving family!!
Aleida, thank you – great ideas! I’m not sure I could go down the sweet avocado path, but we’ll certainly have enough to try it with. How wonderful to have freshly caught fish for dinner! And yes, I really am lucky to have my family! :)
HI Celia,
I am have found on the interweb you can freeze them, just let them get to the point of ripness you want to capture, then peel stone and bath in ascorbic/citric acid then freeze. I am pretty sure you already treat excess apples this way already.
Hope that helps
Moo, thank you – I wonder what the texture would be like frozen? I think if we were going to freeze it, I might try and make it into guacamole first. And yes, you’re right, we were doing that with apple slices – the vit C kept them lily white!
Oh, my – that’s A LOT of avocados! Loved the story, families are so much fun…
I have a post on my blog called Avocado Three Ways, but that will make only a small dent on your treasure! I’ve made avocado soup a few times, from an internet recipe, maybe you can search for one that would appeal to you…
I see that you can freeze avocados, if you mash them first and mix with lemon juice – take a look here
http://whatscookingamerica.net/avacado.htm
I haven’t tried that, but don’t see why it would not work.
Good luck!
Sally, I’ll head to your blog and have a look, thank you! :)
Make lots of avocado salsa with fresh lime, coriander, tomatoes, etc. and serve it with corn chips for a snack or on top of some home baked spicy beans. Avocado and watercress salad would be one of my all time favourites. My kids take a half avocado to school in their lunch boxes (with some aged balsamic vinegar of course!).
If you store them in the fridge you might be able to extend their life a little by slowing down the ripening process. I usually leave them on the bench until they just start to ripen and then quickly put them in the fridge.
Some people make smoothies and even ice cream with avocado…can’t say the idea has ever appealed enough for me to try it myself. But perhaps you could experiment on our behalf Celia?
SG, do you find they go brown in the fridge? I think these might have been cold stored already, so I’m not too confident about putting them back in the fridge once they’re ripe. Definitely need to make salads and dips, but can’t see myself doing smoothies or icecream…sorry!
Avocado & Asparagus Salad
Avocado & Grapefruit Salad
Avocado & Lime Pie (seriously yummy sweet pie)
Avocado Mousse
Avocado & Crab Meat Soup
Avocado & Pineapple Smoothie
Bacon Stuffed Avocado
Avocado & Papaya Salad
Mushroom & Avocado Salad
Oooohhhh, I could go on and on…, Oh yeah…. Guacamoli on almost everything works a treat too :)
I experienced a similar thing you see with an Uncle arriving from Nth Qld with box loads of the green wondrous avo’s thinking if anyone would know how to ‘cook ’em’ it’d be me….. I think we managed to use most of them up.
LOL – I’m glad someone understands Anna! :) Thank you for the suggestions. Bacon stuffed avocado sounds very interesting…
It sounds like Mexican party time: guacamole and chips and Mexican beer. Invite everyone. Ole! It will be so much fun.
Hehehe…noted! Neighbours, if you’re reading this – party at our place once the avocados are ripe!! :D
I’m sorry i don’t know much about avocados, but i loved the story. “I’ve lit a candle for you…” hahaha!!
Sigh. That’s sisters, isn’t it? They’re always sooo sympathetic. She followed it up with a phone call, and when I answered the phone, she said “you are so dead”. :D
I once made a soup out of avocados, peanut butter, apples,hard apple cider and sausage gravy. I had forgotten the base for my original soup and needed to cater a luncheon for 35 ladies. The avocados were supposed to be a garnish on the salads and the sausage gravy was on the breakfast buffet table at the hotel. Everyone loved it- I didn’t tell them it was makeshift because they were so pleased. But I made it under the pressure of the moment and haven’t really repeated it or tried to remember the amounts I used, only a list of ingredients.
My mother would bring over huge bags of bagels she picked up at a shop near her home. She dropped them onto my kitchen table and would expect me to find a way to use 5 dozen bagels before they became hard and stale. I sliced them up thin and toasted them. I think I may have made bagel chips before they were available commercially. Lol!
Good luck with your largesse- I think you should have a party and use them all at once. I love giving parties where you can invite lots of people without having to spend a lot of money!
Hahaha…yep, that’s almost the same thing Heidi. 60 bagels! I love how they can’t resist a bargain, and they’re sure we will have a use for it! But it’s hard to feel anything other than overwhelmingly loved.. :)
I’m picking a theme in the suggestions here…party, party, party! BYO Coronas.. :)
On the odd occasion that the kids have sawn into a completely unripe avocado, I have discoved you can use them by grating and cooking them. I remember such dishes as brown rice and grated avocado. Same principle as cooking green banana or plantain.
Oooh, Frances, thank you for this suggestion! I’ve always assumed you had to discard an unripe avo – it’s good to know it can still be used!
Out of all the suggestions so far, I think avocado soup might be the thing that freezes best, but it would take up quite a lot of room.
If you’ve never eaten cooked avocado I suggest you proceed with caution and try something with only one avocado first. I find cooked avocado tastes absolutely revolting, and I’ve read that others experience the same thing, although it’s perfectly OK for many people.
Good luck with using them all – avocado sandwiches in the lunch boxes, perhaps?
ive been eating a choc avocado smoothies for dessert this week & theyre surprisingly delicious! 1/2 avocado, 2 tablespoons cocoa, 2 dates (or some honey/agave etc) ice, milk … blend!
i want to make this tomorrow-
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/513162
alsooooo i saw this the other day and i cant wait to try it!
– http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/07/how-to-roast-an-avocado-and-what-to-do-with-it-when-you-do-5-ingredients/
Suelle, thank you for the warning – I will try a small batch first!
Bawkbawk, thanks for the links – I’ll check them out.
Good grief! I think you can keep them chilled for a while in the fridge provided they haven’t been cut and are undamaged. I would be very interested to know the results of any freezing experiments you carry out and at what stage of ripeness it is best to freeze them.
I vote for a party myself :) Guacamole, tortilla chips, salsa – i’m not very imaginative when it comes to avocados – invite your Mum !
If I do that, she’ll bring avocados. ;-)
Alternatively how about branching out into the body cream scenario or face masks for all the family, you could wear them when your Mum arrives – avocados, lime juice, chile, a little sour cream, prawns. Failing that bacon avocado and tomato sandwiches on some nice 5 grain bread with a little caesar salad type dressing. Can you tell I haven’t had lunch yet ? :)
I checked this morning and they’re still not quite ripe, or I would have had an avocado and bacon sarnie for breakfast!! :)
That is a lot of avocados Celia, but at 9c each, I’m not sure I could resist that either!
Not sure what to do with so many avocados apart from guacamole but it does remind me of my dad – whenever he visits we end up with vast quantities of something that he has found at the shops on sale and always a whole watermelon in the fridge (and we don’t really eat that much melon). Better be careful what I say though – he occasionally checks in on your blog.
Brydie, sure you don’t have any Chinese blood? :)
Alex, sounds like you’re as blessed as we are! I love that they’re still so keen to take care of us, even when we’re in our 40s! I wonder if we’re going to be like that with our kids? Actually, no need to wonder, I have every intention of being like that! :)
ROFL Celia. That could be my mum too. They’ve got about a year’s supply of soy milk in the garage! :P
Lorraine, I can’t even begin to tell you about the toilet paper rolls we all have stockpiled! But they’re absolutely right – it doesn’t go off! :D
I’m not a big fan of avocado so hardly ever use it although sometimes buy them for the little one who just likes to eat them sliced up. Sounds like you’ve been given loads of ideas though.
This reminds me of how, when we subscribed to receive the Australian newspaper everyday because it was being offered as a really cheap deal, I felt so under pressure to read the paper each day (or at the very least take off the plastic wrap) and was very relieved when the subscription ended! It taught me it’s not always a bargain if you don’t really want it!
Sarah, I really know what you’re saying there – every time we buy a newspaper, it seems to haunt the house for a week!
I love avocado–I could happily eat guacamole by the bucketful–and they’re really great sliced on sandwiches or burgers. I particularly like them sliced in a wrap with brie and a little lettuce and tomato.
Love your blog!
Siege
Siege, thanks for stopping by! I suspect we will be eating guacamole by the bucketful! :D
Hi Celia,
This post really remind me of when I shopped in fresh market with my mom in Thailand. She would take everything on sales home. One time she bought 8 kilo of tiger prawns home when they were really cheap. We ended up eating prawn for a week… I feel sick thinking about this.
Wow avocado! I think you should make a giant bowl of guacamole, avocado sandwich, put them in salad… put avocado in everything and have avocado theme party- call all your friends and family :)
Tes, you made me laugh! 8kg of prawns – I don’t know how you’d ever get through them! Ahhh mothers – you gotta love them! :)
My mom has an avocado tree and freezes guac all the time.
I like my avocados mashed plain with a little salt and lime juice. Nummers!
I’ve also had them breaded and deep fried like tempura. You might try it with a little mango dipping sauce.
Thirty avocados won’t last long!
Marilyn.
Mazza, the guac doesn’t go watery when she defrosts it? I think this is what I’d like to do – mash and freeze the excess, but I’m just not sure what the consistency will be like when it defrosts. I think I’ll do a test sample…
I have never heard of tempura avocado before! I should have known you’d have a suggestion I’d never heard of before! :)
Looks like you’ve had plenty of ideas, I was going to suggest guacamole and freeze it. I am so envious. Avocados here cost so much and then often don’t ripen properly. We stayed on an avocado farm once in NZ and had them with every meal – it was heaven.
Yes, friend Choclette, but you were able to grow 90 buds of garlic last year! And you have gooseberries! :)
But we are very blessed to have access to so much fine produce here in Sydney, and it’s wonderful that so much of it is locally grown.
Celia I always buy packs of multiple avos and just store them in the fridge until such time as I need to ripen them ready to eat. I find they keep perfectly (and don’t ripen) in the fridge until taken out. 3-4 days in the fruit bowl on the bench sees them ready to eat….hope the boys like avocado!!
Rob, thanks for that. I might go and get the less ripe ones and pop them in the fridge – that will buy us some time!
i’d trade you some heirloom tomatoes if i could! here i find avocadoes for a buck fifty apiece if i’m lucky. all the while the tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat them, but not enough at the same time to be able to make sauce or something. tomorrow i think it’s first tomato soup of the season, yay.
how lovely to have family to smother you! i miss that the most.
we love avocado – i know you’ve seen my recent soup with cucumbers; i do salsa, salads, veg sushi – one combo i never tire of is grilled avocado with fresh grapefruit; i stuff them with bacon and shrimp/crab meat; chop it in omelets or tuck it under fried eggs on toast, for a really good croque msr/mdm; when they’re a little too ripe i make sauce – a bit of mayo, lime juice, jalapeno, salt, a pinch of sugar, and then milk until you have the consistency you like; gazpacho; avocado pesto and oooh, cheesy quesadillas!! the tempura tip is very intriguing, i’ve never had anything like that. can’t wait to see what you’ll make!
You could always just give a swag of them to your neighbours…. who will watch them ripen simultaneously on THEIR kitchen bench….
I tend to imagine that RIPE cooked avocado would not taste very nice but I found the cooked green ones to be quite acceptable in a stir fry or rice salad. Another thing to consider is how do you make avocado oil. I believe avocado oil is made from the fruit, not the seed like Olive oil and Red Palm Oil. I’ve just discovered red palm oil and I like it and I am interested in any recipes anyone has tried. Red palm fruit oil can be made by hand.
Ive tried the ancient process of making neem seed oil by hand and I imagine this actully would work too with sunflower seed etc. I wonder how to make avocado oil by hand?
Hi Celia,
Here are a couple of cake recipes from over at Joy the baker..
http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2010/03/avocado-pound-cake/
http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/07/vegan-chocolate-avocado-cake/
Kind Regards
Belinda
Dana, they can get quite expensive here too – our current theory is that someone in mum’s area cut down some avocado trees. A single tree can bear so much fruit, it’s unbelievable! I have never tried avocado and grapefruit – thank you for the suggestion!
Dredgey, I hope you enjoy them.. :)
Frances, I took your advice today, because of course I cut one open and it wasn’t ripe enough! So I grated it as you suggested, and it’s in the fridge tossed in lime juice, waiting to be used tonight in a dish. Surprisingly, it hasn’t oxidised and is still very green. I might try mixing it in with pasta. I’ve never heard of avocado oil before – will see what information there is out there..thanks.
Belinda, thank you! I’ll check out the links, although I still haven’t got my head around the idea of avocado as a dessert! :)
Definately freeze them. We buy frozen avo pulp from the wholesalers and it’s fine. If there’s any liquid on top just tip it off. Otherwise, mash some up and smear them all over! What a great way to moisturise away the winter! You’ll look years younger!
BTW, I once told my mother – without any heat- to shut up. All was fine for a week until she thought about it and decided it was unacceptable. So she did. She refused to talk to me for 5 months. Actually quite refreshing…. I didn’t even know for a week that she had stopped until my sister told me!
Oh goodo, thanks for that Chef. I shouldn’t laugh at your story, but I did. I hope everything’s ok with your mum now.. ;-)
I would go with what others have said and mash them then freeze the pulp. Avacado’s aren’t my favourite food, but a slice here and there I can manage. My husband loves guacamole. I can’t stand it. Good luck eating all those. I know in my house, I would have to give them away. We use at most about 4 a year….
our local lebanese cafe sells this incredible ‘cocktail’ that is made by blending avocado, strawberry, milk (possibly evaporated) and then on top it has a really incredible topping of rosewater, cashews and cream. I am NOT certain about this combo as I tried it only once, but definitely didn’t hate it! just can’t decide whether it’s Right to drink a thing I have firmly labelled as savoury as a drink that i think should be Sweet.
Good luck with your glut. for 9c each I wouldn’t have been able to pass them up either!
Cat, it’s one of those things you either love or hate, I think…
Anne, thank you for that – I’ve read quite a lot of dessert recipes for avocados – I remember reading about an avocado and strawberry mousse on Claudia’s blog (The Missing Flavour) ages ago and thinking it would be interesting to try. But like you, I have avos very clearly in the savoury part of my brain, and it’s hard to move them over to sweet! :)
I think we will make lots of guacamole and freeze it – it sounds like a great option!
Just one last comment on the loving largesse of a parent’s gift. My mom died about 8 years ago, and honestly, Celia, I would love to have some one think so highly of my cooking abilities and initiative to bring a bumper crop to my front door right now. I miss the challenge- the audacity – and the covert approval that those gifts implied.
Cherish your avocados!
Oh Heidi, thank you for such lovely words. My parents have always been disproportionately proud of my sister and I – proud of what we can do, and almost dismissive of the things we can’t (“oh, those things aren’t important!”). It is unbelievably empowering. I hope it’s a gift we can give to our children as well.
I began to wonder if overripe avocadoes might make good seed starters. Next time I open a dud I might pop in a bean sead and see if it takes off. I still cannot find out how to make the oil. Google has failed me
My friend makes a wicked avocado mousse/smoothie type thing. She mashes the avocado, mixes in some creme fraiche and milk and a touch of sugar. Apologies if this has been suggested earlier on….LOL
And your sis made me laugh…..and you too. You ‘caught’ yourself though and realised you were in trouble without anyone telling you!
Frances, I couldn’t find out how avo oil was made either!
Oz, thank you – although I’m still not sure I’m up for sweet avocado concoctions! My sister makes me laugh all the time.. :)
I’ve had a crazy few days and am just catching up with this now! I made a delicious cucumber avocado soup last night, topped with lump crabmeat.
Carrie, that sounds delicious! Was it a cold soup?
A gorgeous picture too!
You can make avocado & chocolate truffles: here is the link, that you must copy & paste.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Candy/AvocadoChocTruffles.htm
I made them & liked them a lot!
Avocado and chocolate, Sophie? Wow… :)
Here’s a new one! Avocado and Cape gooseberry!
Physalis peruviana, known in English as golden berry (South Africa, U.K.), cape gooseberry, giant ground cherry, Peruvian groundcherry, Peruvian cherry (U.S.), poha (Hawaii), jam fruit (India), uvilla (Ecuador), uchuva (Colombia) and physalis.[1]. It is indigenous to South America, but was cultivated in South Africa in the region of the Cape of Good Hope during the 1800s, imparting the common name, cape gooseberry.
As a member of the plant family Solanaceae, it is related to a large number of edible plants, including tomato, eggplant and potato, and other members of the nightshades. It is closely related to the tomatillo but not to the cherry, Ribes gooseberry, Indian gooseberry or Chinese gooseberry, as its various names might suggest.
The fruit is a small round berry about the size of a marble with numerous small yellow seeds. It is bright yellow and sweet when ripe, making it ideal for snacks, pies or jams. It is popular in fruit salads, sometimes combined with avocado.
Its most notable feature is the single papery pod that covers each berry. Because of the fruit’s decorative appearance, it is sometimes used in restaurants as an exotic garnish for desserts. If the fruit is left inside the husks, its shelf life at room temperature is over 30–45 days.