They require a lot of work to add some kind of flavour.
At least they don’t go from rock hard to rotten within a day like the imported Hass.
Was lucky this year one of our avocado trees decided to kick into gear (the one on top right row…far right–“black beauty person”). Taste was good.
As for ripening…skin does not turn all brown but rusty spots increase. Also did not get very soft. Well, this year we were able to “practice” waiting for the avocado to be ripe since we had so many on-hand.
This seems to be the non-Taiwan avocado guide.
I know when a common avocado is ripe.
Taiwan avocado are different, twice or more as large, among other differences.
I once lived on a six acre avocado grove in southern California. They were hass. The best ones were the ones that fell off the tree and ripened under the leaves.
The Taiwanese ones can still be ripened even after being cut early. I cut one right open recently, it was horribly hard and bitter. I wrapped it up tight and put it in the fridge until it turned soft. Pity it tasted ordinary when it did ripen, chucked it in the end. Pointless exercise really.
No avocado will taste good ripening in a fridge.
Why is that? Someone on here suggested it, turned out to be dud advice. Or the avocado was gross to begin with.
It won’t ripen properly in a fridge. How could it?
I tried a ‘luo li niu nai’ yesterday. Well it was pretty revolting. Had a weird taste to it, so it was possibly the vendors fault. Also got a mung bean smoothie from her and it was already melted so she seemed like she wasn’t great at her job. Anyway, first time I’ve tasted a Taiwan avocado and it wasn’t a great experience.
And today i found some perfectly ripe hass avocado in pxmart. 3 for 99ntd. It was like they had been bunged into a discount deal… i feel like Taiwanese don’t know what to do with them. Normally they are 100% rock hard then when i finally found some ripe ones they are in the bargin bin.
The only problem is now i have a taste for them i’m going to have to replenish my stock with those rocks.
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Once ripe, they don’t last. Bargain bin because they are compost in 2 days 
Taiwan avocados are grown for weight, farmer profit. They are known low quality, but their texture and that is fine. Perfect for smoothies and the like. Terrible for a sandwich.
Big money if Taiwan ever gets into the Yuppie taste for avocado, toast and a poached egg.
Growing up in Florida, our avocados were the same as in Taiwan. I do prefer the Haas variety because of their high fat content.
Irwin mangos are the same in Taiwan and Florida. I read that Taiwan imported Irwins from Florida.
Now, we need the Florida carambolas here
The weather is the same.
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I made use of them. I’d much rather be able to buy them ripe and make something than have to wait for 2 weeks for them to maybe go ripe maybe go brown and just waste my money.
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I feel ya. But logistically it’s more logical that the customer buys them a week in advance (or whatever time frame, unripe is the point). Selling ripe avocado is akin to selling cooked organic chicken. What doesn’t sell that day or 2 gets thrown out. A huge wastage and loss of money. These shops also get hygiene inspections by the FDA randomly. If they have rotten (contaminated) food, they face fines and loss of reputation.
The only real middle ground is buying from small scale farmers. Which is very doable. But unless they live near you and you can spend the time to go there, I leave you with the other logistics issue of shipping a VERY soft and fragile fruit. It’s why our Annona varieties aren’t really exported very far from this country. despite Taiwan being the world leader in them. They are soft and fragile. The only real fix is send them unripe and ripen on the way. Like mango, banana etc.
I just feel like they are doing something wrong. I never had this problem in the UK. I could get them ripe or almost ripe. Here they are rock hard every time.
Ya, the UK has WAY more demand than Taiwan. Same with Canada where I was born. Just a way higher demand. Especially for quite expensive ones with slightly better taste. It’s not a priority. Sandwiches aren’t huge business here. Guacamole here is imported goo filled with flavor enhancers (see: subway). The local use for avocado is to load it with sugar and make into sweets and drinks. That and the health food industry, whi h in Taiwan tends to care very little about flavor (this is changing). So the overpriced tiny ones dont sell as well and thus they don’t want a bunch of costs that have very little shelf life
Not saying I like it either, but it is logical in my opinion.
All i ask is they don’t put them in the fridge. I don’t think it helps.
If they didn’t have temperature, air, chemical controls down to a fairly accurate science, you wouldn’t have good avocados here 
Supermarket today. The California ones were 200ish grams. 75 a pop. So almost double the price. Plus a far lesser meat to skin/seed ratio. Can understand why a consumer that cares more about texture and/or nutrients goes for the way cheaper one produced locally. Again, not defending it based on taste, but everything else is why it is the way it is 
