Where to buy the best avocados in Hong Kong: readers offer tips after our rant about being ripped off
Responding to column about how hard it is to find good avocados in city, you tip some stores and markets, and tell us where to find ‘fantastic’ ones for less than HK$10 and ‘huge, ripe and buttery’ ones for HK$50
Sunday’s column about the the first-world problem of finding a decent avocado in Hong Kong prompted a flood of responses from readers, many of whom put me in my place. According to them I’m stupid, impatient, an idiot, dork, hipster, retard and a “squirrelly guy”. Two of these descriptions are on the mark.
Many readers, however, agreed with the premise of the column. “True, buying an avocado here in Hong Kong is just like gambling,” one reader wrote. “Same experience … never buy an avocado in HK,” another remarked. “My daily struggle,” someone commented.
Personal insults aside, many readers offered insightful tips, ranging from where the best avocados originate to places to buy them and how to ripen a hard one.
Some readers say they are unimpressed by avocados from Mexico, a North American region that gave the fruit its name. (Avocado is derived from an ancient Aztec word for testicle.)
“I always find the Mexico-produced avocados really poor, usually rotten and inedible. Californian avocados are a mixed bag – sometimes good, often not very. Chilean and Australian ones are usually good in my view,” one enthusiast commented.
Another reader found that Chilean avocados are tasty 99 per cent of the time. “Only experienced buyers are able to select good avocado from Mexico. They’re typically hard and, when soft or tender when touched, it’s already too late to eat. It’s oxidised already, blackens and not eatable.”
