Jacques Pépin's 2-Second Trick Stops Avocados From Browning Too Quickly

Browning is the bane of avocados, but one surprising trick from Jacques Pépin can help you squeeze a little more life out of them. Keeping avocados green once cut has developed into a whole cottage industry, with some suggesting you go as far as blanching avocados before cutting them, or even dipping them in grain alcohol. Some of these methods are more effective than others, but none of them are super practical, so people normally return to the standard technique of using an acid like lemon juice, or covering them in plastic wrap. But what if you don't want the taste of lemon, or your avocado is part of a dish, making plastic wrap useless? That's when Jacques Pépin says you should just use water.

This trick was shared by Pépin when he was preparing a guacamole recipe. After slicing up an avocado, Pépin grabs a piece and notes, "If you wash that in cold water, that prevents it from getting discolored." All he does is quickly dip the avocado chunk into a nearby measuring cup that's full of water, and it's ready to go. While the French chef explains that this isn't necessary for guacamole, because the acid in the recipe should prevent it from browning, he adds, "If you want to do a salad, and you want to keep it for a while before it discolors, wash it in cold water like this."

This water-washing trick is shared by others online as well, and certainly Pépin wouldn't suggest it if it hadn't been successful for him, but the actual reason why this works is hard to come by. Pépin himself simply says somebody told him this works, and many others agree but admit they don't know the exact science behind what is going on.

The browning of avocados happens because the flesh contains phenolic compounds, and once they come into contact with the air, oxygen triggers a reaction in them that turns the flesh brown. The normal way to prevent browning is either to cut off the avocado's air contact, through plastic wrap or airtight containers, or use acidic ingredients (like lime juice) which hinder the enzymatic activity of the phenolic compounds. It could be that coating the avocados with water is partially insulating them from air contact, or it could be that the water rinses away some of those compounds from the surface.

While this trick may stop your avocados from browning while a dish is sitting out, one thing you should not do is use water to store avocados for an extended period of time. Washing avocados halves with water doesn't have much effect on browning after the first hour, and a viral avocado storage hack that suggests submerging them in water to seal against oxygen has since been deemed unsafe by the Food & Drug Administration due to the potential for bacterial growth. So take Pépin's advice when making the final prep step for a salad, but don't expect miracles over the long term.