Avocado pits...

[Berlinsbreads]

I was just making some guacamole for a side for dinner tonight and happened to pull out my 'How to Cook Everything' cookbook. The author says to put the avocado pits in the guacamole to prevent discoloration while it's in the fridge waiting to be served. I have never heard of this before?? So far, it seems to be working. Do any of you know more about this?

[shelora]

I have heard that many times, but my guac is never around long enough to turn brown.

There are also certain kinds of avacadoes that brown faster than others.

It can't hurt and anyway it looks rustic with the pit in the middle of the bowl

[culinary bear]

A complete old wives' tale.

The browing occurs because of oxidation, so there are three steps you can take to prevent this.

1) reduce the temperature: keep the guacamole in the fridge and it will brown more slowly (but still brown).

2) use an antioxiative ingredient like lime juice to retard oxidation (especially by spreading a very thin layer on top of your guacamole).

3) perhaps most effective, take a layer of cling film / saran warp and press it against the top of the guacamole, smoothing it to the edge ao that the surface of the guacamole is completely sealed from the air. Oxidation needs oxygen; this is a good way to reduce oxygen contact.

[andiesenji]

In addition to culinary bear's #3 suggestion, I smooth the surface of the guacamole and spray it with one of the culinary oils, plain, garlic or lemon, then apply the plastic wrap to the entire surface. Using this method I have held guacamole in the fridge for 8 hours with no browning whatsoever.

The bit about the seed is not true. The guacamole in contact with the seed will not brown because it keeps air away from the surface but the rest of it will brown.

[fifi]

The original Saran Wrap works better than generic cling film. It is polyvynilidene chloride which is much less permeable to oxygen than the generic polyolefin wraps. Lime juice helps a lot. I happen to like a bit of lime in mine anyway.

[chef koo]

i honestly hate people who give advice like that! here's some more. if you want your guac to not be bland add some salt and put a plastice straw in with it. to straw makes it more flavourful. sigh.

[davebr]

In Harold Mcgee's second kitchen science book The Curious Cook, he has a chapter dedicated to that therory in which he dispells. So it doesnt work, at least according to "science".

[EdS]

I tried this. It didn't work. I felt like an idiot for trying it.

[andiesenji]

We have all tried it, so you needn't feel like an idiot. Anything that brings us more knowledge is good. You learned something and progressed as an individual. I just happened to do it a long time ago because I am a lot older than most of the people here. This particular mistake was long in the past for me but I still have new ones coming along.