Nothing is better than fresh avocado to put in a salad or spread on toast, but it can be annoying waiting for it to become ripe and soft enough to eat. Avocados can take up to a week to ripen, so if you are impatient, there is a simple way to speed up the process naturally as long as you keep the away from intense heat.

It is often a popular hack on social media to ripen avocados by them in a microwave or oven, but this will not work as the fruit will not have developed properly to have any flavour. Ripening is a natural process and trying to trigger it artificially by cooking it will only soften the outer skin so you get a rubbery avocado that tastes extremely bland.

Instead, the storage experts have shared one way to properly ripen avocados is to store the fruit in uncooked rice.

They said: "Use a simple staple like rice to speed up the ripening process. Place your avocado in a bowl full of rice and submerge it completely so it's covered on all sides.

"Uncooked rice is an excellent source of trapping ethylene gas, so this technique works like a charm."

Most fruits naturally release a gas called ethylene, which helps them ripen so they become much more flavourful and easier to eat.

Too much ethylene in the air can cause fruit to ripen very quickly, which is why it is important to be mindful when storing certain fruits together if you want them to stay fresh.

However, if you're trying to ripen avocados, placing them in a container of rice helps trap the ethylene gas around the fruit, creating a closed environment that speeds up the ripening process.

Rice will also absorb any excess moisture and insulates the avocado to help keep it fresh once it has ripened, so you will get a much tastier fruit.

If you do not have any rice in your cupboard as another natural way to ripen avocados is to store them with a banana.

The expert said: "Place your avocado in a brown paper bag, along with a banana. This trick may seem bananas, but it works!"

Bananas produce a lot of ethylene gas than avocados, so will quickly ripen avocados so they are ready to eat within one day or even overnight.

However, if you try this ripening technique then make sure to use a paper container like a paper bag or newspaper as it is a breathable material.

Avocados release moisture as they ripen, and if it builds up in a closed storage space it has cause the fruit to rot or become mouldy.

Paper allows lots of air to circulate around the fruit so there is no chance of spoilage so you will get be able to bite into a creamy, buttery and fully ripened avocado in no time.