Food Healthy Eating Tips

You Only Need One Ingredient To Keep Your Avocado Fresh for Later

Tehrene Firman

August 4, 2020

While everyone has a hack for keeping an avocado fresh, not all of them hold up. Trust me—I've tried way too many methods only to have my beautiful green fruit turn an unappetizing shade of brown anyway. One thing that works every time, though, requires nothing more than the lemon that's probably already sitting in your fridge.

When you only need to use half an avocado and want to save the other half for the next day, TikTok user @ptrniki—who's kind of a life hack extraordinaire on the platform—said to reach for your lemon. You've probably heard how drizzling lemon juice on your avocados can help, but her method ensures the entire avocado is covered and protected against the oxidation that causes browning.

To use her method, all you need to do is rub a lemon wedge on the avocado flesh around the pit, making sure to dab it on the entire surface. Then, put it in an air-tight baggie—like a reusable, eco-friendly Stasher bag ($10, amazon.com)—and set it in the fridge. Lemons contain ascorbic acid, and by rubbing on a layer of the juice, the oxygen reacts with the ascorbic acid first instead of immediately reacting with the avocado flesh, says California Avocados.

This hack for keeping an avocado fresh prevents it from turning brown for a little bit longer—at least until it's time for breakfast the next day. When you grab it from the fridge in the morning, it will still be nice and green. Aka perfect for your avocado toast and beyond.

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