Hi! I forgot a whole Avocado (stem and peel still on, bought yesterday) at my apartment on the table and am currently on the way to a 3 week vacation, how bad will the smell be once I return?😭
It really shouldn’t be that bad. At worst it’ll be moldy, but it’s entirely possible you’ll come back to find it just kind of shriveled and very squishy. It depends on how ripe it was when you left, and how warm and humid your apartment is. But even if it smells, it won’t be the kind of smell that hangs around for very long after you throw it out.
Of all the food you could have left out and forgot about you really lucked out with it being an avocado. If it were milk or raw fish you’d probably be coming home to something truly horrific.
Most fruits and veggies IME tend to dry out more than rot, unless perhaps you live in a very humid area. My experience with forgotten avocados is that they’ll shrink and get wrinkled, while becoming inedible inside, but won’t be problematic.
Tomatoes can definitely get gross and leaky if forgotten. Potatoes when rotting can actually produce poisonous gas, so watch out for that. Kind of a Solanaceae (Nightshade) theme there, I guess.
So here’s a picture of a potato that escaped to the back of our cabinet and lived it’s best life.
I’m thinking it went on it’s merry way during our vacation in the cold months, and by the time we got back the stink had dissipated (plus, we live in a loft so the smell would not be trapped in a room). Either way, we didn’t find it until months later and dried out.
…looks like a little pirate ship, lol
Also, the plant and berries the potato plant produce are toxic for anyone who didn’t know.
Oh, that’s right. Another frequent feature of the Nightshade family IIRC.
Whoops, only the very top bit of that photo is showing (for me). Maybe upload it to Imgur or such?
EDIT: No, I see it now! Yeah, that’s awesome. They’re also famous sprouters, so it looks like that one exhausted it’s tuber energy trying to reach light…
Tune in again next week for Johnny Enzyme and His Biological Friends!
Probably will be fine, avocado skin is very tough.
You’re going to need to abandon the table, and the house
