I love avocados! I always have and I don’t see my affair ending anytime soon. I pretty much eat them every day, adding them to my eggs, my smoothies, my salads, or I’ll just cut one open and eat it right out of its skin with a spoon. Even Santa feels my love all the way up north, as demonstrated by my avocado toast ornament he brought me this year for Christmas. Gone are the days that I need to hide my love because I was tired of being called out and shamed into thinking they were full of fat (which they are!) and bad for me (which they are NOT!). Well take this avo-shamers…avocados are full of fiber, vitamins, and healthy omega-3s fats with all sorts of amazing health benefits. Benefits like healthy skin, fat loss, and tons of energy! And if that’s not enough to bring you over to the green-side, avocados are natural brain and mood boosters too. Shamed no more!
But if I was to have one minor complaint about my dear fruit, it is that it is not always ready when I am ready to eat it. While I have learned to do some advance planning, there are times when I need them to be ready “now.”  Like when I look at the 10 rock hard avocados I have sitting on my counter that I need to ripen by tomorrow for a Super Bowl party. I made a conscious decision that if they weren’t any softer by morning, then I would draw laces on them and pass them off as football party favors.  My guests would be served chips and jarred salsa, and they could enjoy their party favor in 3-4 days in the comfort of their own home. That was until I came across this amazing tip on Facebook this morning: How to Ripen an Avocado in 10 Minutes!
What you need: A baking sheet, tinfoil and those hard-as-a-rock avocados
What you do: Wrap the whole fruit in tinfoil and set it on the baking sheet. Pop it in the oven at 200°F for ten minutes, or until the avocado is soft (depending on how hard it is, it could take up to an hour to soften).  Remove it from the oven, then put your soft, ripe avocado into the fridge until it cools.
Why this works: Avocados produce ethylene gas, which is typically released slowly, causing the fruit to ripen.  But as the avocado bakes in tinfoil, the gas surrounds it, putting the ripening process into hyperdrive….and putting the salsa back in the jar!
My best party advice to you…show up with fresh guacamole for a Super Bowl party, and I promise you that the avocado won’t be the only Rock Star there!
Go Falcons!