In A Pickle With Unripe Avocados? It Might Be Time To Pickle Them (Yes, Seriously)

Generally, picking the best avocados at the grocery store means selecting them at their creamiest. Or, at the very least, close enough that they'll end up soft and ripe within a few days. But sometimes that just isn't an option. Maybe you ended up with unripe avocados because you had to buy them in a bag, and only some were good. Perhaps your grocery delivery was selected by a careless employee. Or maybe the only avocados available weren't quite ripe, but you didn't want to skip that part of a dish. Whatever the reason that you've ended up with too-firm avocados, we have a solution for you (a solution of vinegar, water, salt, and sugar, to be exact): Pickle them!

Now, there are ways to ripen an avocado faster, but once you try pickling, you might just find that you no longer care about ripeness. Pickling underripe avocado doesn't just give you a use for those fruits that you are tired of waiting on; it also opens up new avenues of flavor for the perennial favorite ingredient. They may not have the same luscious texture as their riper counterparts, but avocado pickles make up for it with a tangy, salty, and sweet burst of flavor that fits perfectly in many of the same dishes in which you'd typically expect to use avocados.

When it comes to making avocado pickles at home, start with a very firm avocado. If it's nearly ripe, instead of nice, snappy pickles, you are likely to end up with briny avocado mush. Nearly ripe avocados should just be given a day or two and then mashed up for guacamole or avocado toast.

These firm, underripe avocados can then be treated just like any other vegetable that you want to quick pickle. Making refrigerator quick pickles at home is a simple process. All you have to do is remove the peel and pit from the avocado, slice it thin, and then pour room temperature brine over it before tossing it in the fridge. Basic brines just include vinegar, water, salt, and sugar, but feel free to spice things up with ingredients like garlic, chilies, herbs, or whatever sounds good.

Given how long pickles last in the fridge, you'll have plenty of time to find ways to use these tangy, salty avocado slices — but we're going to give you some suggestions anyway. You really can use these pickled avocados in most places that you'd use avocado — and many places that you'd use a pickle. Because they're ready to go in your fridge, they are perfect for topping simple preparations like three-ingredient carnitas tacos. The firmer texture means that these pickles won't be good for mashing or spreading, but they are perfect for rolling up in sushi or cubing over a poke bowl. A chopped salad is always a good place for avocado, and doubly so for avocado with a bit of crunch and zing to it — and the same goes for sandwiches and wraps.