Mold in the fruit?

Tonight I prepared a simple fried avocado dish. Essentially, I just sauteed slices of avocado in light oil and serve with lemon juice. Normally, this is a very easy and delicious way to consume avocados.

But the fruit I used tonight was a little older than usual. Certainly it was softer and the black spots of oxidization were very prevalent throughout the flesh. What was most worrisome was a large white area which seemed to begin at the stem and grow toward the seed area. I'd estimate it was approximately 1cm in length and about half a centimeter in width. It was shaped like a football and was hollow in the center.

I cut this area out and prepared the avocado as normal, but the flavor was bitter and I ended up tossing the dish.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures of this. What was it? Was it mold? How susceptible to mold are avocado fruits? How safe is this mold?

Mid-spring update

The two avocado plants made it through their first winter and have responded to the warm spring weather with a new growth of leaves. Unfortunately, due to high winds, the first set of new leaves were battered and are now deformed and drying out. This kind of puts a damper on my enthusiasm in today's post, but a new set of leaves seems to be peeking out amid the tatters.

The older avocado suffered the most damage to the new leaves. It seems to have survived the winter in relatively good health and the old leaves are very green and strong.

You can also make out a bit of branching at the top where it seems that the tree wants to grow in at least two directions. I'm considering pinching at this point to encourage the plant to grow straight a little more and also to encourage leaf growth. Depending on which branch seems more healthy, I will decide in a couple weeks.



The younger avocado seems to have suffered from severe anemia this winter. The leaves are yellow and brown around the edges. There hasn't been much growth this winter, as expected, but the lack of vigor is very worrying.

A new set of leaves has sprouted at the top of the plant and these leaves seem to be healthy so far. If this spring can induce some vigorous new growth, the old baby leaves can be shed safely.



Two more avocado seeds have been prepared. One is already in the soil and a stem is slowly becoming visible. The other is still in toothpicks and has only recently revealed its root.

Actually, four more seeds have also become available due to a guacamole party today. What I've noticed is that the newest seeds are about half the size of the seeds from a year ago. The avocados themselves are a bit smaller too, but the change in seed size is very interesting.