The future is now: Danish supermarket introduces machine that scans avocado ripeness

Future is now: Danish supermarket introduces machine that scans avocado ripeness

A new scanner in Bilka Tilst can tell in a few seconds if your avocado is ready for guacamole or needs to ripen a little more.

The avocado scanner can currently be tested in Bilka's store in Tilst. Video: Søren Hostrup. 49 minutes ago

Purchasing avocados is associated with a certain uncertainty - and often a smear of frustration. Is it too hard? Too soft? Or does it already bear marks of doubtful customers who have pressed and hoped for the best?

But now the solution is here. In Bilka's store in Tilst, they have indeed purchased an avocado scanner, which in a few seconds can determine if the avocado is 'overripe', 'ready to eat', or if you should 'let it ripen fully at home'.

- The customers who have been there and tried it have taken a positive view of it and think it's a super good idea, says Søren Hostrup, who is the store manager in Bilka Tilst.

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A complex fruit

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The avocado scanner is developed by the Dutch company OneThird, a name that refers to the amount of food that is wasted on a global scale - a third.

The scanner uses infrared light to measure the avocado's molecular composition and structure. The result is then compared to a large, continuously updated database to determine the fruit's ripeness, writes OneThird to DR.

- You simply run the avocado in front of the machine, which then scans into the avocado, and in a few seconds you know if it is overripe, ready to eat, or if you should let it ripen fully at home, says Søren Hostrup.

According to the store manager, the new machine meets a great need for customers.

- Avocado is a really difficult fruit to judge from the outside, and it can ripen quite quickly. So there is a need for this, says Søren Hostrup.

And that with, the avocado's ripeness is difficult to discern, according to Alexandru Luca everything about. He is a researcher at the Food Institute at Aarhus University, has a PhD in food science with a focus on quality changes in fruit and vegetables after harvest, and has subsequently worked for two years on a project that deals specifically with the ripening of avocados.

According to Alexandru Luca, who researches avocados, you should go for the darker avocados. (Photo: Nam Y. Huh, AP/Ritzau Scanpix)

- From the outside, you can't say anything about how the avocado is inside. You can easily see if a berry has become bad on the surface. But with avocado, it's all hidden under the peel, says he.

He calls the avocado a black box, which in the scientific world refers to a system whose detailed structure or workings are unknown.

- Avocado has a very thick peel, and often as a consumer, you can't know what's inside. It's hidden, says Alexandru Luca.

And each avocado is different from the others - and the avocado's hardness is not determined solely by its ripeness.

- The problem is that the peel thickness and the size of the pit are not consistent. You can buy a very large avocado, but then you cut it open, and then there's a huge pit and almost no fruit flesh, he says.

Without scanners like the one that has landed in Bilka Tilst, there is therefore no way to be sure of an avocado's ripeness without damaging it.

- There is no universal way to measure it. You can cut a small piece of the peel off and make an objective measurement of how soft or hard the pulp is. But then you open the box and damage the fruit, he says.

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Stop pressing avocados

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The common way to check an avocado's ripeness today is to press on the fruit.

- It's a fruit that many customers like to press on to feel if it's ripe. That's how they judge them today, and we'd like to see if we can avoid that with this machine, says Søren Hostrup from Bilka Tilst.

But it is indeed a bad idea to press on avocados.

- The more you press on them, the worse they become, sounds it from Søren Hostrup.

And according to Alexandru Luca, there is scientific evidence for this.

- I definitely advise against pressing on the avocado. It's a kind of gift to the next person who will buy it. Sickness and marks spread incredibly quickly in avocado. Often 24 hours are enough for the whole fruit to actually become bad, he says.

And in addition to making the fruit bad, it can also deceive the next customer with the avocado peel.

- If you press on an avocado and leave it on the shelf, and the next person comes and feels it, they might think it's soft and ripe, without it being so. It's just the spot you pressed on that has started to go bad, says Alexandru Luca.

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Expert advice for avocado eaters outside of Tilst

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If you don't live near Tilst and therefore still don't have access to an avocado scanner, there are better ways to check the ripeness than to chase your thumb in the avocado.

- I have worked with avocados and know how to choose my avocado. I have a few tips and tricks, says Alexandru Luca.

- The first thing to look for is the color. The avocados we have in Denmark are of the Hass variant. If it is a green Hass, you should not expect it to be ripe. There is no reason to look any further at a green avocado, he says.

When you have found a fruit whose color is closer to brown than green, you should look for any obvious damage on the peel.

If there is none, you can cautiously feel the fruit.

- So I use my hand and try to squeeze it a little. You should not use much force. If it is hard, you can feel it. It can be done without leaving a trace, sounds it from Alexandru Luca.

In the long run, it is planned that the new scanner will be rolled out in more of Salling Group's stores across the country.

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