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My friend was telling me about a habit in the Spanish culture (I'm not sure if it's done elsewhere as well) of leaving the avocado seed inside when making guacamole. The claim is that if you leave the seed inside the guacamole, something in the seed prevents the guacamole from browning.

I'm a little skeptical - I thought that the browning was due to oxidization. If that's the case, then I don't see how a seed could help in preventing oxidization. Am I missing something? Is this true, or just a myth?

voithos
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2 Answers2

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You're correct - it's a myth, as is adding something acidic to it like lemon juice--see explanation here. As you said, what causes it to brown is the oxidation, and that's just exposure to the air. If you wrap a cut avocado (or guacamole) in plastic wrap so there's no air space between the wrap and the avocado, then it will stay green longer than areas where air is getting to it.

Flimzy
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franko
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  • Yes, it seems logical. But do you have any references? You mentioned that adding something acidic is also a myth - [this answer](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/9358/6509) seems to imply the opposite. – voithos Jun 21 '12 at 01:09
  • Also, I found [a link](http://desigrub.com/tag/polyphenol-oxidase-and-avocados/) that seems to provide evidence that the seed thing is a myth. It also seems to indicate that adding something acidic _does_ help...? – voithos Jun 21 '12 at 01:10
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    The fact that exposure to air causes browning doesn't mean that adding an acid won't inhibit it. It definitely does help, just like it does with cut fruit. You're right about the pit, though - the only part it stops from browning is the part it's in contact with instead of air. – Cascabel Jun 21 '12 at 01:11
  • It's not any acid that prevents oxidation. Ascorbic acid from citrus does. – Juancho Jun 21 '12 at 01:21
  • Hey now! A real brouhaha... – Doug Jun 21 '12 at 02:06
  • Actually, lemon juice does retard browning of avocado flesh. – FuzzyChef Jun 21 '12 at 02:41
  • Ascorbic acid (vit. C) is just better at it than most other food grade acids – TFD Jun 21 '12 at 07:28
  • I drop mine in water--there's no air between the water and the avocado – Ray Jun 21 '12 at 12:11
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    Ray's answer is right. My source for this one is the Serious Eats blog, and their resident food scientist Kenji Lopez (scroll down to "On Browning" and go from there: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/01/the-food-lab-the-best-guacamole-avocados-science-browning-ripening.html – franko Jun 21 '12 at 13:39
  • @franko: Sure, that works too. But all the discussion here is about your claim that acid doesn't help, not about immersing in water. (And... I'm not sure I'd want to store guacamole with a layer of water on top of it.) – Cascabel Jun 21 '12 at 17:13
  • @Jefromi -- well, please check out the Serious Eats article I linked. Kenji found that citrus didn't noticeably deter browning on his guacamole. In fact, he found that in some cases, it actually seemed to speed up the browning. You could also just press plastic wrap along the top of your guac, and smooth out any bubbles, to achieve the "no air" environment, too. No submersing is necessary. – franko Jun 21 '12 at 23:44
  • Franko: Huh, interesting. Well, I bow to Kenji's expertise. I guess the reason why lemon juice + plastic wrap works for me is because the juice helps seal the wrap, not because it's acid. That'll save me some work next time, will just use water. – FuzzyChef Jun 22 '12 at 04:58
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    I have asked about this on [Skeptics](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/10054/4020), and it appears [the answer](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/10056/4020) is, that citric acid *can* be beneficial, *or* detrimental, depending on the variety of avocados used. But Ascorbic acid should always work. – Flimzy Jul 07 '12 at 18:03
  • More and newer info here: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/46494/which-acid-is-the-most-effective-against-oxidation-of-avocados-surprising-expe – Jolenealaska Aug 19 '14 at 03:05
  • **Magic of magic of similars**: https://books.google.com/books?id=h1LsCh68d7kC&pg=PA281&lpg=PA281&dq=%22magic+of+similars%22&source=bl&ots=Fwo1IupUd7&sig=hqMJRLLYeXvoMvFghloUrsEne-g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TFdoVYSuLYqHyATOvYHgDw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22magic%20of%20similars%22&f=false – Wayfaring Stranger May 29 '15 at 12:12
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This is not an old wives tale. Everyone knows that oxygen turns the guacamole brown. I have read everywhere that some chef did an experiment with a light bulb and the guacamole did not turn brown around the light bulb thus he concluded that it worked the same way as the pit..Wrong! If people would actually tried the pit trick instead of reading some crackpot ideas they would see that the a couple pits in the bottom keep it from turning brown. Oxalic acid is in the pits and absorbs the oxygen which turns the guacamole brown.

jeff
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  • If you actually try this, you'll see that it turns brown everywhere that's exposed to air, and it's just the part in contact with the pit that stays green. – Cascabel May 29 '15 at 05:39
  • Similarly, if you press plastic wrap into the top of the guacamole, it doesn't brown. – Catija May 29 '15 at 15:25