I was in a grocery store the other day and the head of the produce department told me not to refrigerate avocados else they will turn black inside. Anyone who loves avocados as much as I do knows that is not true. Avocados are one of the most fridge friendly fruits in existence. The only way they will turn black is if you slice them open and leave them exposed, and even then you can scrape away the discoloration. Here are a few tips from an avocado aficionado:

-Eat at least half an avocado every day if you can. There are few foods on the planet as good for your health. Now if I could stop eating five Trader Joe’s vanilla cookies a few minutes later!

-Buy them rock hard and let them ripen at room temperature. Soon as you can indent a finger about a half inch with semi firm pressure, move them to the fridge for storage. They will happily live there for weeks at a time.

-If you use half an avocado, make sure you remove the pit before you refrigerate the other half. Store in a zip lock. Don’t think it’s bad if it turns dark. You can easily scrape the dark stuff away.

-Avocados stored too long in the fridge that turn mushy make GREAT dip!