In order to rectify the age-old dinner party nightmare about how to guarantee you only serve your guests perfectly ripe avocados, Morrisons is to launch vacuum packed Haas avocados in time for Christmas.
The supermarket has found a solution to the ubiquitous ‘too hard or brown’ avocado problem by developing specialist technology that peels, de-stones and vacuum packs the fruit. From 29th November 2011, the avocados will launch as part of a Prawn Cocktail Kit that consists of four perfectly ripe avocado halves and a pot of delicious prawn cocktail for £5.
The technology uses high pressure processing (HPP) with non-thermal food processing to improve the shelf-life of avocados without impacting the nutritional composition of the fruit or its eating quality. The egg shaped Haas variety of avocado is hand-picked for Morrisons in Peru when the fruit is at the peak of its ripeness. It is immediately peeled before being vacuum packed.
Neil Nugent, Morrison Executive Chef and Head of Innovation, commented, “We are always looking for new ways to help customers get the best quality produce, so when we came across this ingenious way to keep the buttery-soft avocado fresher for longer without any fussy peeling, we thought Christmas had come early. Shoppers can now guarantee that they will only serve their guests a perfectly ripe avocado and the fact that it is prepared for you also means there’s less waste.”
Morrisons sells more than five million packs of avocados each year. Numbers increase during the summer months and Christmas as shoppers indulge in luxurious starters such as prawn cocktails which are traditionally served with fresh avocado for festive feasts.
Published 24/11/2011