Keep calm and guac on. Or at least that’s the sentiment from grocers in San Antonio following Saturday’s surprise announcement of a ban on avocados imported from Mexico.
News broke on the eve of the Super Bowl that a U.S. food safety inspector in Michoacán, Mexico had received a threatening call from a drug cartel there. Mexico’s Agriculture Department issued a statement saying the U.S. government will prohibit the importation of Mexican avocados “until further notice.”
In San Antonio, where avocados are their own food group, word of the ban led some to post concerns on social media about potential scarcity or skyrocketing prices for the already pretty pricey fruit.
On a Facebook post with the ban news, Joe Aguilar commented: “I have two avocados at home. Make me an offer. No low ballers, I know what I have.”
But at least for now, avocado supplies in the area remain stable. H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said in a text message, “H-E-B is monitoring the situation closely and working with our suppliers. At this time we do not anticipate disruption in supply.”
That sentiment was echoed by Michael “Nando” Gonzalez, owner of produce wholesaler River City Produce and retail outlet Chicho Boys Fruit Market, where avocados remained well stocked Monday.
“I think we might see some reaction on the market, and you’re going to have some speculation buyers, but … it’s too early to tell,” Gonzalez said.
Grocers have an advantage over home cooks when it comes to avocados. If kept at the right temperature in their large refrigerated storage facilities, grocers can hold avocados in a semidormant stage of ripening for a few weeks. That means, at least for now, existing supplies of avocados in stores are robust, although that could change depending on how long the import ban remains in effect.
Avocado prices have been volatile for the past several years. Mexico, which supplied 89 percent of the U.S. avocado inventory in 2018 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has faced multiple weather events that have caused sharp spikes. Drug cartels have also muscled into the booming avocado market, extorting growers for money — a cost passed along to U.S. consumers.
Right now at H-E-B stores, small avocados cost 77 cents each, and jumbos are priced at $2.50 each.
In San Antonio-area restaurants, the high price of avocados has led to some tough business decisions. For Louis Barrios, co-owner of the Los Barrios family of restaurants, it means carefully adjusting menu prices to keep the lights on without turning off customers.
“We’re a Mexican restaurant, and we have to have avocados. There are some high-margin items and some low-margin items, and we just get upside-down on that,” Barrios said. “We pay the exact same prices you pay at the grocery store for avocados, but consumers don’t understand that.”
Ceasar Zepeda, owner of Sangria on the Burg and Alamo Biscuit Co., has found a different solution. Avocados, once a mainstay in his kitchens, barely appear at all on his menus these days.
“We love avocados … but the price on those are all over the place,” Zepeda said. “We put them on very certain things and that’s by design because they can be the most expensive thing on the plate. By the ounce, avocados can be more expensive than the protein.”
While the fallout from the import ban is still uncertain, there are steps you can take to make the most of your avocados at home.
If your avocados are still quite hard, you can store them in the refrigerator for about a week, and they’ll remain firm. Just move them to a room-temperature space such as a bowl on the counter, and in about two or three days, they’ll soften up perfectly.
If you’re sitting on a large stash of avocados and they’ve already softened, you can stretch their life for about three days by placing them in the refrigerator. Place them in a sealed bag or container so they don’t come in contact with any other produce such as apples or bananas that release ethylene gas, which hastens the ripening process.
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