Can you eat avocado skin?

The more we learn about nutrition, the more we hear that in most plant-based foods, the highest concentration of nutrients is in the peel, or skin. Is this true for avocados too?

Can you eat avocado skin?

The truth is that you can eat the skin of avocados, but it is not very pleasant. Although avocado skin is packed with nutrients, it has a rough texture and an unpleasant, bitter taste.

However, there are ways to strategically get the benefits of avocado skin nutrition into your diet, and in this article, we’ll talk about how and why you should consider eating avocado skin.

Should you eat avocado skin?

If you are considering the safety of avocado skin, it may be because you have accidentally eaten avocado skin and you want to know if it will make you sick. If that’s the case, you can rest easy.

Although most people do not eat avocado skin, it is totally safe to do so.

But should you eat the skin of the avocado? The answer to this question is a bit more complicated and we will look at it from different angles to try to fully answer it.

Is avocado skin edible?

Is avocado skin poisonous? No. However, that does not necessarily make it edible.

It’s not like apple or peach skin, where you can bite right into the fruit and barely taste the skin. The skin of an avocado is quite thick and fibrous, almost like a thin tree bark. It is also quite bitter and unappetizing.

Chewing it won’t get you very far, but you can grind it with a mortar or pestle or mix it into a powder or paste with a high-powered mixer. If you are going to try to eat the avocado skin as is, try a smooth-skinned variety.

Avocado skin has a compound called persin, which is toxic to animals, especially livestock. It is not a good food to offer your horse, let your chickens nibble on it or include it in your pig’s porridge.

Avocado Skin Nutritional Benefits

As with most fruits, much of the nutrients are held in the outer layers of the skin and pulp. As a general rule, the darker the color, the higher the concentration of vitamins, specifically antioxidants, phenols and flavonoids. 

Avocados also have a deep green color, indicating chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is responsible for plants growing strong and healthy, and it is believed that it can also help humans stay healthy.

As you can imagine, the tough, leathery outer shell of avocados is also a rich source of fiber, useful for good digestion, intestinal health, and weight management.

eat avocado skin

One way to eat avocado skin is to mash or blend it into a paste or powder, depending on how dry it is. You can then add it to a smoothie, sauce, dressing, or other similar type of recipe.

If you need to dry it further to make it easier to spray, you can dry it in the oven at 200-250 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour.

Check frequently to prevent burning, and only heat for as long as absolutely necessary, as the temperature will slowly degrade the nutritional value.

To make things even easier, you can simply halve or quarter the avocado and mix it with the skin intact with the rest of the ingredients in your recipe.

Save yourself a step in the prep process and don’t bother peeling it in the first place.

Avocado skin tastes quite bitter, so keep in mind that whatever you add to it, the bitterness will alter its flavor. If it’s not completely powdered before use, you also risk getting small pieces of skin in your drink or dish.

Related questions:

How do you peel an avocado?

If the texture and/or flavor are too much for you, you can get a lot of the most important nutrients simply by scraping the fruit pulp out of the skin as carefully as possible.

Many people peel the skin of the avocado, which is easy to do when it is perfectly ripe, but some of the dark green part of the flesh can be removed with the peeling.

The creamy fruit of the avocado that is closest to the skin will be the most nutritious, so don’t limit yourself to the lightest part.

You can also avoid cutting the avocado with a knife, as this will likely leave a layer of the dark green flesh stuck to the skin.

Instead, cut the avocado in half and use a knife to remove the pit. Next, take a spoon and scrape the fruit, removing as much skin as possible. Remember that the darker the color of the fruit, the more nutrients it includes.

Avocado is not the cheapest fruit in the world and has a fairly short shelf life, so it makes sense to savor every last delicious morsel.

Can dogs eat avocado skin?

Although avocado skin can be dangerous to livestock, if your dog accidentally picks up a piece and eats it, it’s unlikely to cause any serious problems.

Too much can cause digestive problems due to the rough texture and high fiber content, but a small accidental bite should be safe.

It’s not a good idea to feed your dog avocado peels regularly, and if you’re ever concerned about how much he’s consumed, call or visit your vet to be sure.

Can avocado skin be composted?

You can compost avocado skin because it is all natural and it will eventually biodegrade, but it will take a long time.

If you have a long-lasting compost that is turned over year after year, you can throw some avocado skins in there and over time they will break down and add their nutrition to your soil.

However, if you plan to use your compost a year or even two from now, it is not good practice to add the avocado peels and have them still solid within that time frame.

However, you can puree the peels before adding them to your compost, in which case they’ll be great for adding nutrition.

What is the skin of an avocado called?

The skin or shell of the avocado is the exocarp. The avocado is a simple fruit, formed by a seed and a pericarp, which is divided into 3 parts.

The part of the fruit that we generally consider the edible part is the mesocarp.

There is also a very thin layer called the endocarp, which is essentially the skin that protects the seed from the fruit.