Friends, I have stumbled upon an avocado selection hack that’s so good, I would be remiss to keep it from you. It’s super easy!

All you do is you watch and wait while someone else vets the avocados, and then you take the avocados that didn’t make the cut. These are the runners-up, and they’re pretty close to perfect. Rely on someone else’s effort! I learned this from a guy who relied on mine this one day not too long ago.

Standing in front of the avocado bin at the grocery store, I was so engrossed in my avocado selection process that I didn’t notice the guy standing off to the side. I mean, my peripheral vision caught him, but I wasn’t aware that he was watching me. (He wasn’t focusing on me so much as he was on what I was doing, I later deduced.)

There were a hundred or so avocados piled up in the bin. My task was to find specimens that were at that very tricky right stage of ripeness, because with avocados, that’s all that matters. If the avocado is unripe, it’s bitter and hard and inedible. If it’s past peak ripeness, it’s sticky and sour-ish and inedible. This is the way of the avocado: it’s too green, too green, too green, and then perfect for precisely FIVE MINUTES, after which it’s overripe and ruined. I’m exaggerating, of course… but seriously, an avocado seems to go from sublime to vile within a day. If you know, you know. I’ve been selecting avocados long enough that I usually get it right for both day-of and the next day. A perfect avocado is so delicious, it’s worth the effort.

So I had several avocados lined up on the edge of the Roma tomato bin that was directly above the avocado bin, because they were contenders, and as such, they had to be separated from the rest. I picked each one up several times, comparing them to each other while searching out other avocados, setting new contenders up on the tomatoes and returning the rejected ones to the bin below.

When I had five contender avocados that were all nearly perfect, it was a matter of deciding. I took the three least-promising-but-still-very good contenders from the tomato bin and set them on the low edge of the avocado bin right in front of me, so I’d have them at hand if I decided I wanted them… and that was when this guy (who’d been watching me and my process) swooped in and took those three, bagged them up, and walked off.

It took me a second to realize what he’d done, and I then burst out laughing. I couldn’t be annoyed, because his strategy was brilliant. I was impressed and amused, and my heart was light knowing that someone else was also going to enjoy beautiful avocados that evening. Maybe he’d take them home to his partner, and they would be ecstatic that he’d found good avocados! I had my two perfect ones. I was happy.

So that is what you do. SO easy, my friends.

Now that I’ve shared this with you, I’m craving avocados. Methinks a trip to the grocery store will take place tomorrow. On that note, I wish you all a fine night or day.