The Avocado Seed Trick

I love slicing into a fresh and perfectly ripened avocado. My favorite variety has bumpy dark green skin and lets me know it is ready when it turns a shade of almost black. Inside the signature green-toned flesh near the skin of the fruit turns to a festive shade of bright yellow-green closer to the large slippery brown seed held in the avocado’s center.

I first discovered avocados when I wanted to learn to grow one as a houseplant at the age of seven. I had read in a magazine that this could be done in a glass of water and as a junior scientist I had to give it a try. My mother agreed and took me to the store to search for the perfect subject for my experiment. With advice from the fruit-seller, we chose a ripe and exquisite specimen.

I followed the directions carefully opening the pear-shaped piece of produce so as to not damage the gift of its seed inside. After gently piercing three toothpicks placed strategically in tripod fashion into the seed, I submerged the bulbous form halfway into its new watery home. In the weeks and months to come I was amazed watching it grow into a luscious plant.

Not wanting to be wasteful the day of the experiment, my mother and I decided to be…