Avocado Pits

I put the pit in the guacamole. It does hold off the browning for a while.

Lemon or lime juice helps as well.

My son (now 6) and I did the avocado pit thing at the beginning of winter. It's now an actual little tree with very long green leaves in it's own soil. We don't live where we can actually plant it outdoors because of frost and snow, but it's pretty cool as an indoor plant. It was fun watch the roots grow and my kids loved watching the process. If you mean an up or down way to have it suspended by toothpicks, yes, there is... the rounder/flatter part of the seed goes down and the slightly pointier end goes up. You'll see a small lighter circle on the side that goes in the water. :)

Guacamole does not last long enough in our house to have to consider ways to keep it from going brown. It stores perfectly well in my belly, where all guac belongs.

Maybe I need to make bigger batches...

Or eat less.

Ha!

You could put anything on top and that portion would be fine..

I suggest saran wrap, on top of the actual guacamole not just in top of the bowl. . Make sure there is no air.

Here is a tip I learned about how to keep avocado slices from turning. Bowl of ice water. Slice your avocado and place all of the slices in ice water, they will be perfect for hours.

I know this works, because I do catering and I have one client that Loves to have a big platter of sliced avocados available for sandwiches. I slice them at 10 or 11 and place them in the ice water for a while and when I lay them out they are perfect on the platter for an hour. And no the refrigerator does not work for this. Must be Ice Water.

Whenever I make guac, I use lemon juice for flavor and to prevent browning. If you are storing or prepping an avocado dish beforehand, be sure to rub some lemon juice on it.

If I'm making guac ahead of time, I always store it with the pit in and remove it right before serving.

I wish I could find the link but actually the pit doesn't do a thing. It was a nerdy site that just loves to disprove things.

Ahh found it.

http://www.livescience.com/33660-guacamole-avocado-pit-pr...

Pretty much the pits do protect some of the dip from reacting to oxygen but a much better method is to keep plastic wrap over the surface of the bowl. I also store guac in a ziplock with all the air possible removed. I have kept it for weeks like that.

Putting the pit in the guac only keeps the guac in direct contact with the pit from turning brown because it blocks that air in that spot. A bit of lemon or lime juice and a tight cover works better.

We put our guacamole in a flour bag for cakes and squeeze it out. We put the tip on it so no air gets inside to brown it. If you do this, you have to one of two things, make your guacamole REALLY finely chopped - more like frosting. OR use the biggest frosting tip you have for more chunky guacamole.

I'm not reading the other responses, but my experience is YES, the pit helps. I put my guac in the serving bowl, plop a pit in the middle, lay plastic wrap and press down to the surface of guac, then put lid on the bowl. I usually do add lemon or lime juice to my guac, too (I like the flavor). I leave the pit in it when serving--it does seem to keep greener longer (when open on a serving table).

As for growing the pit, the flatter side goes down into the water, pointy end up. about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pit should be below water. Use a taller container (like a tall glass, narrow vase, etc). Because, the roots will get pretty long and you won't want to be using a bunch of dishes when the roots reach the bottom. Once the plant is a few inches long, you can re-plant in a pot with dirt--I think you still leave about half of the pit above the dirt level. My mom is really good with these! She even grew a (non-producing) tree that reached 10 feet (to her ceiling)! If we lived somewhere a bit more humid, it probably should've been transplanted to outdoors. But, it looked really cool inside and was a fun conversation piece.

Pointy side up out of the water. Yep, putting the pit in helps as do citrus juices.

A friend of mine who is Mexican always puts the pit in her guacamole. I've never seen it turn brown. Even after it has been uncovered at a potluck for a long time.

You could set a light bulb on your guac if you felt inclined. The point is to keep air completely at bay. We wrap ours tightly in saran wrap, making what amounts to a guac tube. Good luck.

The pit in the bowl never worked for me. It's all about the air. Use lime - not lemon!

Making the darn pit grow never worked for me either. But I will try again! Rounder end goes down.

When we make guac, we use lime juice and the acidity does help keep it green. But putting the pit in also works to keep it off the brown.

For growing, there is a "top" to it. You have to really look. The "top" has a very slightly flat part to it and the pit is usually not perfectly round. You have to use a knife to score the pit before putting it in water. I don't know if you would be able to get toothpicks into it though.

Yeah, it just works to block the air getting to it. Saran wrap will do just as well or better. I put lime juice in mine and it works pretty well. And a little garlic salt for flavor, yum!

yup, i always leave the pit in the *other* half of a fresh avocado and as long as i use in the next day or two, it's fine. obviously doesn't work for very long. so it just makes sense to put the pit in the guac too.
do the avocado-toothpick thing! i don't know any kids who didn't enjoy it!
ETA- i love you guys! now i learned something new about avocados!
:) khairete
S.

I have also heard that you can put a thin layer of water over the top of your guac and that keeps it from going brown. Don't pour it directly on (lest you cause a watery hole in the middle of it), drizzle it gently over a spoon so it sort of spreads of evenly. Then you tilt the bowl carefully and pour it off later (after refrigerating)

I have never tried this. Like Kristen C, guacamole does not last very long around me.

MY MIL grew a whole Avocado tree from a pit, using the toothpick shotglass method. I believe the "pointier" side goes down.

nope, lime juice and keeping it covered.

I have never had the pit prevent the guac from turing brown. water or olive oil does the trick though. Its about the oxygen hiting the avocado.