I wanted to see if anyone has tried to pickle avocados?
Mostly I am interested to use only vinegar, and/or salt.
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4 Answers
I've never heard of it being done and I can't imagine why you'd want to try. An avocado is 70-80% water and 15% fat. That means you would basically be making pickled fat.
Compare to cucumbers and peppers which are both in the range of 0.1 to 0.2% fat, and much firmer than even an unripe avocado when raw.
I'm sure that it would be safe as long as it's done properly and the pH is under 4.6, and the acidity would kill or slow down the enzymes enough to prevent it from turning black. But I don't think it would be edible, even if you added oil to the mix. We are biologically hardwired to perceive sour fat as being rancid, and unlike certain pickled meats, there's no umami in there to compete with that sensation.
If you feel you must try this, at least start with an unripe avocado and see what it's like after a few days. A ripe avocado would almost certainly disintegrate in a pickling brine.
Here is one recipe: Lemon, Garlic & Rosemary Pickled Avocados (from the California Avocado Commission, also see their blog post about pickling and other avocado preservation)
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2That's avocado with a vinegar-based dressing, really: 6 hours in the fridge does not constitute "pickled" in any sense of the word I'm familiar with.– MartiCommented Sep 25, 2014 at 18:10
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Those links are interesting, especially considering my results here: cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/46494/…– Jolenealaska ♦Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 2:44
I cannot understand why it would not work, you can pickle mango, apple and orange, why not Avacado!
see e.g. http://avocadodiva.blogspot.sg/2012/08/pickled-avocados.html
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1Avocado isn't like mango, apple, or orange; those fruits are all slightly acidic and sweet already and have no fat. I'm a little skeptical of the recipe but wouldn't mind hearing from someone who's tried it.– AaronutCommented Oct 23, 2012 at 2:26
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the recipe you linked to is not actual pickled avocados, because it says you need to keep them in the fridge, and they are ready to eat in one day, the purpose of pickling is preservation in room temperature (at least it was the purpose traditionally),– AliCommented Oct 23, 2012 at 12:30
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Ali, maybe that is just this recipe, I have never tried to eat fridge pickles after 1 day, maybe it is OK, just better after a few weeks?– StefanCommented Oct 24, 2012 at 7:41
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2Aaronut, I do not think PH would matter that much, Dates is 6.5 - 8.5, much higher than Avocado 6.3 - 6.6 according to engineeringtoolbox.com/food-ph-d_403.html and can be pickled. Not a fruit (obviously :-)) but herring is Ph 6.1 and fat 16% so from a content point of view very close to Avocados values and is commonly pickled in Scandinavian countries. So neither fat or Ph seams to be an issue. (Sorry I do not have reputation enough to comment above where this comment should be).– StefanCommented Oct 24, 2012 at 7:57
I have eaten the small finger avocado when I visited family in LA; they were delicious and were canned in a jar. You ate skin and all. I would like to find them. I have a large box of baby avocados; I guess I will have to freeze them. I might try to pickle some with my own brine.
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So basically you are saying it is possible to pickle avocados? contrary to what was mentioned before? Do you have a recipe? Do you need to boil them before, do they need to be green (young)?– AliCommented Oct 20, 2012 at 23:08
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@Ali: Stefan's answer may shed some light here, it looks like the flavour might turn out OK if you used a non-traditional pickling brine (red wine vinegar instead of white; salt, sugar, garlic, hot peppers, etc.) From what I can tell, it seems to involve a reduced amount of liquid as well, more like a bath than total submersion. Give it a try and see how it turns out, maybe I spoke too soon with my earlier answer.– AaronutCommented Oct 23, 2012 at 2:25