How to Freeze Avocado

Did you know that you can freeze avocados? Until last week, I didn't either - and the discovery came just in the nick of time.

You see, I have a little avocado addiction. Every time I have a salad, I scoop the flesh of half an avocado into it. It works as a great substitute for salad dressing, adding some much appreciated flavor and a helping of healthy fats without any unusual chemicals or unwanted oiliness. I buy up handfuls of avocados when the price is good, ripening them one by one on my kitchen counter and keeping the others in the fridge until they're needed. This system works well as long as I keep eating them, but last week's stomach flu left me with no appetite and a bowlful of overripe avocados.

Even without the flu, it can be tough to catch an avocado when it's perfectly ripe. I'm sure some of you have been there - you poke and prod your avocado, thinking you have a few days before it reaches peak softness and then, suddenly, it's going downhill fast and you're desperately trying to figure out ways to add guacamole to every meal.

I couldn't bear the thought of wasting one more of these gorgeous green gems, so I decided to give freezing a try. After a few minutes on the internet, I came up with the following method - which I can honestly say is pretty amazing. The avocado is pureed and combined with lime juice (to prevent oxidation), so its use will be slightly limited, but it's still great thawed over salads, stirred into guacamole, or eaten, as is, with tortilla chips.

The best part: you're only three steps away from never having to waste another avocado again!

Step 1. Scoop avocado flesh into a blender and combine with 1 Tablespoon lime (or lemon) juice for each avocado. Puree until the mixture is smooth (this also helps distribute the lime just evenly, so your avocado won't turn brown).

Step 2. Spoon into airtight containers or resealable bags (folding the top of the bag over, as shown above, will prevent the seal from becoming dirty during this process). Seal bags, removing as much air as possible. Using a pair of chopsticks, create a grid of indentations (as shown below) in the unfrozen avocado. This will make it easier to remove and thaw the frozen avocado as you need it.

Step 3. Place on a flat surface in the freezer until avocado is frozen solid. To use, 'break' off as many sections of avocado as you require and return the rest to the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator (you can thaw at room temperature, but the avocado may brown slightly - if you need to speed the process, try stirring the frozen avocado).

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