Avocado

Information

if you buy avocadoes hard, ripen them on your kitchen windowsill, they're ready when they 'just give' as you squeeze them.
to speed up the ripening process you can put them into a paper bag (or dark drawer) with a banana as they produce ethylene gas naturally as they ripen. Ethylene residues on the bananas will help the avocado or other fruit to ripen quickly
mix over-ripe avocado with milk, yoghurt and a touch of maple syrup or sugar for a lovely green smoothie
lemon juice helps to stop avocados turning brown
if you pop the avocado stone into a bowl of guacamole or salsa it will keep the dip fresh and green for at least 2 hours; remove the stone before serving
ripe avocado can be spread onto toast instead of butter
keep the half avocado with the stone still in place and put it on a dish/plate in the fridge, you should be able to use the avocado the following day without it going off