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Buying and consuming avocados requires way more effort than it should. Buy them too hard, and you have to wait a week to slice them up. Buy them too soft, and you better eat them within the next hour, or they’ll go bad. If you’re an avocado whisperer (it’s a thing), you may be able to select the perfect fruit. If you’re anyone else, the struggle is real.
What if there was a way to never stress over your avo selection again? Sounds like a dream, right? Except it’s not. It turns out there’s a way to prepare avocados such that they taste delicious, no matter what stage of ripeness they’re in. It’s not black magic, it’s pickling! Yes, you can pickle avocados, and the result tastes amazing. Best part? It takes only 2 hours. That means you can shop in the afternoon and have perfectly pickled avocados ready for dinner time.
How It’s Done
You’ll need the following ingredients for the brine:
-2 tbsp of salt
-1/4 cup (or less, depending on your taste) of sugar
-1 cup water
-1 cup white vinegar
-1/2 tsp black peppercorns
-2 tbsp of yellow mustard seeds
-optional: chili pepper of your choice
Directions
-Combine the ingredients above in a medium sized pot. Place over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the brine begins to simmer. Make sure the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Then allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Pour into as many jars as desired.
-Slice avocado(s) lengthwise to cut in half. Remove the pit, then cut into lengthwise slices (as usual), and remove from the skin. Add these slices to the brine.
-Seal the jars so that they are airtight. Refrigerate for 2 hours, then remove the avocados from the brine. You won’t want to leave them in any longer, or the vinegar taste will become overpowering.
-The avocados will probably be too firm to use for guacamole or as a spread on toast, but you can use them anywhere else you normally would. They taste amazing atop salads, in sandwiches or burritos, or in soups.
That just about sums it up. The avocados will definitely still taste like their normal, delicious selves, but they’ll have a slightly vinegary, tart/tangy taste. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!
