Was in Costco tonight and saw a (I believe) three pound bag of frozen avocado chunks. It intrigued me and horrified me all at once, and with a price tag of almost $20, this wasn’t something I wanted to experiment with and fail.
So has anyone had frozen avocado? I want it to be a swimming success, because it can be hard to catch those buggers at the right time when they sit on your counter for a few days. Plus, you have to be in the mood for avocado exactly when they ripen, or have a mexican meal planned for…whenever they ripen. If these frozen chunks prove to be edible, this might be a game-changer. But I fear the worst…
I gave up on fresh avocados a long time ago, and just buy the mini-guac (brand is Holy Mole IIRC) since they are vacuum packed … and they freeze beautifully.
I can’t imagine the product you’re seeing would be bad.
My question is: How to you chunk it into manageable units? Unless you are trying to kill yourself with healthy fats, I doubt 3 lbs is a single serving.
I have the same problem with Costco Black olives…yummy, dirt cheap, and my body can’t possibly eat 2 lbs of them before destroying my intestinal flora.
Good Eats did an episode on avocados and Alton Brown made avocado ice cream, so freezing it shouldn’t be an issue. As mentioned, I don’t think it would fair well whole as the fat content wouldn’t thaw at the same rate as the other liquids in the fruit.
Like most food products that are sold in bulk, it’s highly likely already in use by restaurants and food service, just now trickling down to the consumers. Last year, a large food distributor here in Hawaii opened up their own wholesale warehouse (open to the public) and I was shocked to see how many food items can be bought frozen. I now assume anything not marked fresh or seasonal on the menu is likely frozen.
No different that any other fruit. The pieces are probably individually flash frozen. I’ve bought frozen sliced peaches and each slice was separate.
If I found them stuck together, I’d take them back because that means they weren’t kept under proper conditions somewhere during shipment. Don’t see it as a potential health hazard, but the texture would be compromised though ice crystals and freezer burn.
The OP specified chunks, so I’m picturing individual pieces and not a mash of the fruit.
Just so you know; you don’t have to catch fresh avocados just when they ripen. Let them ripen on your counter and then refrigerate them. They’ll stay ripe without going over for at least a week in your refrigerator. We had a thread here a while back where someone recommended that and it worked like a charm when I tried it.
With avocados running $0.69 each at my local Aldi’s paying $20.00 for a three pound bag of frozen chunks seems crazy.
Note this important catch which was talked about above:
“Now there’s a catch – isn’t there always? Something happens to avocado when you freeze it. The texture is just not the same once it thaws. So while you won’t want to be eating slices of these once-frozen fruit, they work great for making guacamole, dressings and spreads. So stock up on those cheap avocados now, and eat your fill of guac all year long!”