Avocados are of course delicious packed with nutrients and a great addition to almost any recipe. However they also have a tendency to spoil rather abruptly. And it can be difficult to pick the perfectly ripe avocado when you need it. Because of this many home cooks and otherwise have developed hacks tricks and tools to keep their avocados fresh. And true to the Internet several viral methods for preserving avocados have popped up on the internet all promising to extend the shelf life of those finicky green fruits. One particular hack has gone viral in recent months taking over TikTok and X formerly known as Twitter . And it’s no wonder why. Simple and aesthetically pleasing the method involves storing avocados in a large container full of water. This container is then placed in the refrigerator with the preserved avocados bobbing pleasantly beneath the surface.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
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 The Cross Legacy | 2022-05-25 00:58:59 |  25,919 Views |
Storing Avocados in Water – DEBUT! | Live with Amy Cross
This hack claims to extend the shelf life of your avocados by up to two weeks. But despite these grandiose promises you may want to hold off on giving your avocados a try because this food storage hack could actually be a breeding ground for potentially dangerous foodborne pathogens. In particular the pathogen known as listeria which thrives in moist environments and is resistant to refrigeration can multiply rapidly in this moist storage environment. Bacteria like listeria are not to be messed with. In response to this growing trend the Food and Drug Administration told Good Morning America that it “does not recommend” this storage hack because it can cause pathogens to “multiply” on the surface of the avocado.
Now you might be thinking that the flaw in this hack is only skin-deep and that you can simply scrub the harmful bacteria off the surface of the avocado before storing it in water. But you’d be wrong. For starters an FDA study found Listeria monocytogenes or listeria (the bacteria that causes listeriosis) on 18% of the avocados tested. That’s no small feat especially for such a dangerous bacteria. Listeria can cause typical food poisoning symptoms like nausea and digestive upset. But it can also cause more dangerous complications especially for people with compromised immune systems and pregnant women.
The seemingly obvious solution to this problem would be to scrub your fruit before submerging it. However submerging the avocado in water allows any remaining traces of the pathogen left on the surface to seep through the skin and into the flesh so a simple wash isn’t enough to eliminate the risk of this storage method.
