Fruit

Fruit

Avocado fruit is the whole market berry—skin, creamy mesocarp, and large central seed—sold by piece or weight. Shoppers and cooks choose by cultivar (Hass for rich, shippable fruit; Fuerte and Reed for greener skin and different seasonality), size grade, and ripeness. Soft-ripe fruit is ready for mashing and immediate eating; firm-ripe fruit holds for slicing in salads and rolls; hard fruit needs room-temperature ripening off ethylene-sensitive neighbours if you want even softening. It is the form that travels cold-chain from orchard to retailer. Once ripe, refrigerate to slow further softening. Yield of edible flesh is typically half to two-thirds of total weight after peel and pit are removed. Avoid fruit with large sunken soft spots, mould at the stem, or stringy grey flesh inside.