I cannot get enough avocado. In high school, we had an avocado tree in our front yard, and I got avocado whenever I wanted it. In Washington, avocados are freaking expensive! Although various varieties of avocado are available year round, they are typically most affordable in the spring through the fall. When I see a really good deal on avocados (under $1 each for the large size), I buy about ten at a time. But I can’t actually eat that many before they start to go bad, so I have to preserve them. Here’s the technique my mom came up with in Hawaii.My dog Rusty loved avocados. They’d fall from the tree and he’d carefully cradle them in his mouth as if he was holding a little green puppy, carrying them around the yard to gently lay in a pile on our front step. It was so much fun to come outside and find the treasure trove of avocados with little delicate golden retriever tooth marks in them. He was definitely good at retrieving and knew exactly what we would value the most.
Every time we collected his bounty, we’d toss a sacrificial avocado to him as thanks for his good work. He’d roll it around for a little while, joyfully playing with his treat, then curl up around it and begin to nibble it open to get at the sweet buttery flesh.
Not wanting the overripe fallen avocados to go to waste, my mom began preserving them in the freezer. She’d mash them up with lemon juice and store them in airtight plastic bags. Then we had mashed avocado ready to eat whenever we wanted it. We used it for guacamole, mixed it into tuna and chicken salad, spread it on sandwiches.
I have two gallon bags in the freezer right now and could use your help. How do you like to eat mashed avocados?
Preserving Avocado in the Freezer
Ingredients
- 5
ripe avocados - 5 TBS
lemon juice
Cooking Directions
- Slice the avocados in half and discard pits. Scoop the flesh from the peels.
- Mash the avocados, then add the lemon juice. Mix well.
- Spoon into a gallon sized zip top bag, squeezing out all the air before sealing.
- Freeze up to one year.
Thanks to Lifehacker for sharing this post! I’ve been getting several questions in the comments so here are the answers to the most common ones.
1. Can you use lime juice instead of lemon juice? I’d think so but haven’t tried it. We had a lemon tree as well so that’s what we used.
2. Can you freeze it in ice cube trays to have smaller portions? It’s not only the lemon juice that helps with discoloration, it’s also sealing it in the plastic bag which helps keep it from being exposed to air. I’d suggest that if you want to try the ice cube trays, cover them with plastic wrap and press the plastic down on each “cube” of avocado before freezing. You could also try using sandwich or snack sized bags instead of the quart bags I use.
3. How do you defrost it and what happens? I will typically do a small enough amount in the quart sized bag that it freezes into a one inch thick sheet. Then I can easily break or cut off the amount I want (to spread on a sandwich for instance) and it will defrost quickly on the counter. If I want the whole bag defrosted, I’ll move it to the fridge to defrost overnight. It will be pretty much the same consistency that it was before freezing, but you’ll want to use it within 24 hours because it will start to oxidize and change color and flavor after that.
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