I find them at this price at Aldi quite often. Lucille, I mostly eat them in salads, or on sandwiches. How is the texture for such, after freezing?

I use fresh as much as possible but after freezing I only use them in guacamole or mixed with mayo on a burger or in sandwiches because they do lose that buttery firm fresh avocado texture.

Do they stay green after freezing? I have plenty of freezer space, would love to try this. I just eat them fresh when I find the cheap.

I didn't know you could freeze an avocado! Love guacamole!

That's a great price. Walmart had them for 44 cents last time I was in there. I like to buy them when they are very green skinned, because if you buy any that are darker, they have been squeezed by everyone who stops. I never squeeze an avocado because they bruise so easily and the bruise can ruin the flavor of the whole avocado. So I reach far into the back of the bin and get the greenest ones I can find. It only takes a couple of days for them to get ripe.

They're 'on special' at my local chain grocer (Chicagoland) at $1.50. Most I've done is put a ripe-too-soon avacado in glad wrap (in its skin) in the fridge. I don't want 'mashed'; can you cut up a frozen avacado same as a fresh one?

Is it true that avacados can remain on the tree a long time (not *forever* of course) and only start to soften after they are picked?

Aok my frozen whole avocados were still green. But I'm thinking that if I only freeze the avocado part maybe I should put some lemon juice or something in?

Geeeez, the best price I ever see around here for avocados is $1 each and I live in a state where they are grown! Love them, but have never tried freezing. Makes sense, though, as many of the ready made guacamoles can be found in the freezer case.

marilyn, you must know that some avocado types have lighter skins and others are darker, just as some are bumpy and others smooth. The color doesn't always reflect ripeness.

Aldi has them for less than a dollar often. I eat one a day and I agree with Marilyn I pick very dark green hard as rock ones... otherwise they don't last a week. I never freeze or refrigerate them.

Kroger has Hass large ones for .69 each. Aldi, meh, I've never found one there that doesn't have brown flesh around the pit. Obviously not fresh.

Seems like the answer would be no, but if you bought unripe avacados and froze them, then defrosted, would they continue to ripen?

I'll guess no, they won't continue to ripen. I had some ripening and needed to leave town. I stuck them in the refrigerator, and they never ripened after I came back.

Since I've eaten one a day for years I consider myself an expert on picking them. I look for bright green hard as a rock bumpy skinned ones.

I can rarely find them under $2 each here. I like to pick out firm ones and ripen them to perfection on the counter. Then I put them in the fridge and they stay perfect for at least a week or two.

Mine dry up if I just put them in the fridge unwrapped. A sandwich baggie or plastic wrap makes the difference. They stay 'just right' for days. When I think of all the avacados that I've thrown away because they got too ripe...

chisue, it is true that avocado do not ripen to eating quality while on the tree. They are a peculiar fruit....they have to remain on the tree until physiologically ripe but will not develop their texture and flavor until harvested and stored at room temperature for however long it takes.

From the growers to the transporters to pre-retailer storage to the grocery, the poor avocado is exposed to conditions that can greatly diminish or even destroy their quality. I'll wager that many of us have never had a perfect avocado.....developed to its peak on the tree, harvested at the right time, then tranaported and stored at room temperature until soft and full of flavor.

They have two bins at the market where I shop. One labelled $2.49 ea. and the other is labelled "ready to eat" for $2.69 ea. They are exactly the same - hard as a rock. I'm glad to know about freezing them just in case they are ever affordable enough to stock up on. I eat them most every day and enjoy them so much that I don't balk at the price.

I thought there was great variation in the size of avocados.

Like:

¿Therefore, should there not be great variation in price?

✔ ✔

Asked my daughter to pick me up a couple night before last when she asked if I needed anything from Wal-Mart. I don't know how much she paid, she didn't recall. Ate one for a snack earlier today and it was so good.

Who new about freezing avocados? Please share the procedure. Ripe or unripe? And, then you wrap? Does the texture change once thawed?

Freeze when ripe. Yes the texture changes, but to me frozen avocados are suitable for guac and sandwich spreads.

I used to freeze them whole when I had my big freezer but now I too am looking into how to freeze just the avocado itself no skin or seed.

Breakfast today will be a toasted bagel, spread with avocado, topped with poached egg, salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese. Eat.

IMO, the avocado isn't marketed properly. If the industry would put more emphasis on the health benefits, more people would include an avocado in their daily meals.

I think many people are still afraid of fat. The fat-free movement in the 80's and 90's did a lot of damage to nutritional standards.

From what I understand, to grow one avocado you need over 300 litres of water, probably more than any other fruit. The drought in California caused the price to skyrocket. I don't understand how they can be on sale.

I am in Texas, it may be that these avocados are from Mexico. Update: I checked and yes they are Calavo avocados from Mexico.

They were $.38 in our Walmart today. Walmart only ever has one size, on the small size. HEB had the same size for $.50, and also pretty big ones of $1.50 each.

Rusty

albert -- I think I want the #28 avacados! I wonder if the pit-to-fruit percentage changes as the size increases. I've had some small avacados that were mostly pit.

rhizo -- Thanks for verifying that. It's one of so many things 'I think I know'. haha

Looks like a few folks picked up some "joyfulguy"/(gal)-making messages here, today.

You folks have given me some information with regard to their attractive qualities.

By the time they've travelled over the northern border ... it's been quite a while since they were connected to a tree, though.

I'll have to ask some friends what kind of experience they'e had with avocados (having had none, or next to it) myself (and when you get old it gets hard to remember). Substantial doubt as to whether they'll be able to report anything like 34 cents per unit, whatever the size.

I prefer to buy larger bananas, as I figure that the ratio of skin to edible fruit is smaller than it is in the smaller ones.

Hope you're all having a pleasurable week.

ole joyfuelled ... with nil experience of fuelling via avocados ... but willing to try

Update on freezing: it didn't work for me. I wrapped two in plastic wrap, then put them in a freezer bag. They've been in there 4-6 weeks. I pulled one out and defrosted on the counter. When I picked it up, it was squishy, absolute mush, and oozing onto the counter. I didn't bother to cut it, just tossed it. Phooey.

DawnInCal: Superior grocery stores in SoCal periodically have avocados on sale @ 4/$1 (even 8/$1 last year, per my brother).

I love avocados! But sure do not find any good ones here where we live! Surely not for 34 cents either! That must be a California/West U.S. thingy, sadly!

Ours are over $1 each as well, and they're always a bright green. Sometimes they sell 5 in a net bag for $3 (.60 each). They too are very unripe, and are also small. But I'll buy it and let them ripen. I also store in the frig when they're right, to prevent over-ripening.

We enjoy the PBS program "Under the Influence" where the host discusses the history of advertising. On Saturday the topic was the way the name of a product was changed to make it sound more enticing. One was the 'Alligator Pear' that only succeeded when re-named the 'Avacado'. (Another was the 'Chinese Gooseberry' that became popular as 'Kiwi Fruit'.)

Ours are 1.25 for medium/large-ish ones, $1 for small ones.

Avocados can be grown in my area of California but the prime avocado growing areas are to the south of me. It's rare to see avocados at the very low prices some have cited and more typical are the prices some of you have mentioned. Lower prices are seen very occasionally.

Contrary to its name, I believe Superior Grocery is a chain that features uber low prices for often lower quality products. At the cited prices, I wouldn't expect normal size or quality.

jasdip there are two forms of avocado that you will find in stores. One type is a bright green the other is a darker green, commonly called Hass avocados. The bright green ones will never turn dark but will ripen and can be used the same way as the darker colored ones. Sorry I do not remember nor can find what the common name for the green one. It is normally grown in Florida where the darker green, called black by some, is more commonly grown in California.

Fuerte is the other common type. Both Haas and Fuertes are grown in California, along with some other varities too.

I believe for all avocados, ripeness is judged by softness, not by color. Some never change color at all.

When you feel a small amount of give with a gentle squeeze at the largest part (not on the neck), it's approaching time to eat.

Florida avocados have less fat than Hass which means less flavor. I only buy Hass.

I eat an avocado every day year round. I buy them once a week and look for ones hard as a rock. I prefer bright green ones with bumpy skin. They are current $1 a piece for really large ones...69 cents at Aldi.

I had a couple of avocados which for various reasons didn’t get used before they were going to be toss-out material so I put them into the freezer as they were, unwrapped. A couple of months later I took them out and defrosted them. The flesh was totally soft, but as I was making guacamole that wasn’t a problem. The guacamole was delicious.

Superior Grocery is a chain that features uber low prices for often lower quality products. It depends. When I visit my mom (just east of L.A.) several times a year, we head to Superior for a limited number of items -- by no means do we pick up most of our grocery list there. I didn't find their small avocados appreciably smaller then your larger chain stores' (Vons/Safeway/Albertsons/Pavilions, Kroger/Ralph's).

When DH and I lived in SoCal, we had access to the most incredible home-grown avocados -- rather took it for granted, looking back. MIL and DH's aunt both lived in Anaheim, and their trees yielded large avocados with smallish seeds and delicious buttery-ness. MIL's was a dwarf tree that was largely neglected (save a handful of fertilizer tossed at the base when one remembered to!), and aunt's was a decades old ginormous creature.

DH and I usually don't purchase avocados for the purpose of making guac: that'd simply encourage too much chip eating. :p

I only buy the bumpy skin. Smooth skin is too sweet for me. Right now they are .99 cents apiece for medium and 1.69 for large. I kinda want to throw one of each in my cart to see what the difference is. (Online shopping)

javiwa, whether you know it or not, Superior Grocery's target market (by its own admission) is neighborhoods underserved by other chains. The translation is that their locations are often in lower income and sometimes less safe areas. Sure, real people live in such places and good for Superior for stepping up and doing something important. My point is, Superior carries products at prices its customers can afford and its prices aren't reflective of prices in the broader market.

I have been waiting for them to go on sale and tonight I checked at Meijer and they were on sale for $1.67. Was $2.00 a piece. I only bought two for now but hopefully they have a better sale. They are from Peru.

I love avocadoes... I tend to buy them 2 or 3 at a time, at different levels of ripeness. Recently I found them on sale and got my three -- not sure where they're from but they were Haas.