6 tricks to prevent avocado flesh from turning brown. Easy to do with things in the kitchen.

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Avocados are a favorite fruit for many people, but it can be quite frustrating to notice that the flesh turns brown quickly after being cut. This is a widely discussed problem. Browning is a process that gradually changes the color of fruits and vegetables over time, affecting their overall quality. There are a number of possible causes. A reaction involving the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) present in the flesh of the fruit determines the rate at which the browning occurs.

6 tricks to prevent avocado flesh from turning brown. Easy to do with things in the kitchen.

Enzymatic reactions can occur during harvesting, transport, storage and processing. The mechanical and physical changes involved in peeling, cutting, slicing and chopping that lead to tissue damage are the most common cause of avocado browning. Although browning of avocados is inevitable after cutting, there are ways to slow down the reaction. This article provides 6 tips to help keep your avocados from turning brown.

6 Ways to Prevent Avocado Flesh from Turning Brown

1. Wrap or store avocado in a tightly closed container.

When an avocado is cut, the PPO enzyme and a ทางเข้า ufabet group of antioxidants called phenolic compounds found in the flesh of the fruit come into contact with oxygen. The phenolics are converted into pigment-forming compounds called quinones. Quinones and their byproducts then undergo a series of reactions, resulting in the brown pigment.

This means that the enzymatic browning reaction occurs when PPO, phenolic compounds, and oxygen come into contact with each other, and can therefore be prevented by removing oxygen from the cut surface. Therefore, wrapping cut avocados in plastic wrap or storing them in an airtight container may control exposure to oxygen and slow down the discoloration. However, the discoloration may return once you remove the avocado from the container and expose it to oxygen again.

2. Squeeze lemon juice.

Since PPO is important in controlling color change, targeting other factors that affect PPO activity may also help prevent color change. In addition to oxygen, adjusting pH levels is another way to prevent avocado color change. Since PPO is capable of working at pH levels between 6 and 7.5, it has no ability to work below pH 3. One way to control PPO is to use acids, which are chemicals that lower pH levels.

Acids, such as citric and ascorbic acid, found in lemon juice, lower the pH level of avocados and reduce enzyme activity, which helps prevent browning. So squeezing lemon juice on cut avocados before storing may help slow down the discoloration.

3. Store avocado and onion.

Evidence suggests that onion extract may help prevent the discoloration of the enzyme by inhibiting the activity of PPO. Researchers believe that since PPO is a copper-containing enzyme, the sulfur compounds and its derivatives in onions may react with copper at the active site of the enzyme and inhibit its activity.

In fact, compounds containing sulfhydryl groups can interfere with the browning caused by PPO by up to 33%, so storing cut avocados with thinly sliced ​​onions may help prevent discoloration without affecting the flavor, as long as you make sure the onions are only touching the skin of the avocado, not the flesh.

4. Dip the avocado in coconut water.

Another way to prevent avocados from discoloring is to dunk them in coconut water. In addition to reducing their exposure to oxygen, the antioxidants in coconut water also seem to play a role in slowing down the PPO enzyme reaction.

However, you may not want to soak the avocado in water for too long, as this can cause the avocado to lose its firmness and become soft. This method can be useful if you only want to store the avocado overnight.

5. Squeeze pineapple juice.

Similar to lemon juice, coating an avocado with pineapple juice may help prevent discoloration. In fact, there are two possible mechanisms that explain the effects of pineapple juice on PPO. On the one hand, evidence suggests that pineapple juice is equivalent to sulfites, a widely used anti-browning agent that inhibits enzymatic browning. On the other hand, the anti-browning properties of pineapple juice may be due to antioxidants in pineapple juice. Either way, applying pineapple juice to cut avocado flesh may help slow down discoloration.

6. Apply a thin layer of honey to the cut avocado skin.

This method may also help slow down the discoloration of the avocado, as honey acts as a barrier that limits its exposure to oxygen while also inactivating the PPO enzyme. Again, there are two possible mechanisms for honey’s effect on PPO activity. First, as with onions, the antioxidants in honey may interfere with the copper at the active site of PPO, blocking its enzyme activity.

A second possible reason is that the presence of small peptides (amino acid chains) in honey reduces quinone, which normally undergoes a multi-step reaction leading to the formation of brown pigments.