The Amazing Avocado

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love avocados. They are perhaps the quintessential fruit. Yes that’s right a fruit, not a vegetable. I can remember tasting avocados for the first time many, many years ago in a Toronto restaurant on Bay Street that I’m sure no longer exists. They were, at that time, a rather exotic and expensive food. It was presented in the Appetizer section of the menu and it was described as an Avocado Shrimp Cocktail. Sounded exotic! The avocado was served cut in half, pitted with a bay shrimp cocktail delicately centered in the cavity nicely garnished with lemon wedges. Looked good too! I didn’t know what to expect of the fruit (I thought it was a vegetable then) and I was really surprised by the taste and texture. It was delicious. It had an unbelievably nutty, buttery taste with a wonderful creamy texture. It melted in my mouth. I have heard the avocado taste also described as smoky, sweet, rich, luscious and the texture velvety. From a generation brought up on peanut butter it was right up my alley. I thought it was delicious surprise and avocado has been part of my diet ever since.

THE HISTORY OF AVOCADOS

The avocado fruit, Persea Americana, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae is native to Mexico and Central America and originated sometime between 7000 and 5000 BC. Known to the Aztecs as “The Fertility Fruit” avocados had a long-standing stigma as a sexual stimulant and were not purchased or consumed by any person wishing to preserve a chaste image. The Spanish Conquistadors loved the fruit but couldn’t pronounce the Aztec name for it “ahuacatl” (neither can I) which meant testicle and changed it to “aguacate” which we anglicized to avocado. The avocado is known by other names. Butter pear, avocado pear, and alligator pear.

WHERE ARE THEY GROWN?

Avocados can only be grown in tropical and subtropical climates without serious frost, in well-aerated soils with not too much wind. Avocados are grown in Spain, Israel, South Africa, Peru, Chile, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Mexico, Central America and in the US in California, Florida and Hawaii. Each region has different types of avocado and each region has different ways of serving the avocado.

For example many South & Central American countries add ice cream to the avocado. Filipinos puree the avocado with sugar and milk for a desert drink. The Vietnamese halve and pit the avocado pouring sweet condensed milk into the cavity and spoon it out as a dessert.

Avocados are found in all kinds of recipes from Mexican salsas, guacamole and Tex Mex dishes to California Rolls. From avocado soup and avocado pie to garnishes in salads or just about anything. One of my favorites is a simple but delicious avocado sandwich alone or with lettuce and tomato. It is a versatile fruit.

NUTRITION

Avocados are also incredibly nutritious. Here are some significant food facts.

Avocados provide nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Included in that list are Vitamin B, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, folate, fiber, iron, potassium, lutein and beta-carotene.
There is 60% more potassium in an avocado than in a banana. Avocados contain oleic acid, which is a monounsaturated fat that may help to lower cholesterol. Studies have shown that a diet that includes avocados will show significant reduction in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol with an accompanying 11% increase in health promoting HDL cholesterol.
One ounce of avocado or approximately 1/5 of a medium avocado contains 50 calories.

CALIFORNIA HISTORY

California avocados are grown year round and avocado.org says that a single avocado tree can produce up to 200 pounds of fresh fruit per year, approximately 500 pieces of fruit.
California produces 95% of the nations avocado crop and Fallbrook in San Diego County is the Avocado Capital of the US producing 80% of all avocados grown in California. They have an annual Avocado Festival to celebrate their abundance. There are about 7000 avocado groves in California with the average size being 10 acres. The avocado was introduced to California in the 19th century when Judge R.B. Ord of Santa Barbara successfully introduced avocados to the US with trees from Mexico. Growers saw the commercial potential of the avocado and as a result developed new and improved varieties. By the 1950’s there were over 25 varieties being produced. The Hass variety, introduced in 1935 by Rudolph Hass of La Habra, is the leading California variety accounting for more than 80% of the crop now.

The Hass avocado trees are related to a single “mother” tree that Rudolph Hass, a mail carrier, purchased as a seedling. He planted the seedling in his front yard of his La Habra Heights home and patented the tree in 1935. All Hass avocados can be traced back to grafts from this one tree. Unfortunately the tree died of root rot in 2002.

AVOCADO VARIETIES

There are more than 500 varieties of avocados and with a popular seven grown commercially in California. Almost half of US households buy avocados and we know the Hass is the most popular. Listed below are some of the characteristics of seven of the most popular varieties.

HASS:
Wonderful rich, buttery, nutty flavor
Grown year round, ships and stores well.
Pebbly thick skin turns from green to a purplish black when ripe.
Flesh is pale green with a creamy texture.
Oval shaped fruit from 5 to 14 ounces.
Medium seed size. Peels easily.
Skin is green when unripe and purple/black when ripe.

REED:
Buttery delicious flavor. Creamy flesh.
Summertime variety ripens May to September.
Thick green skin with slight pebbling.
A large seed. Skin peels easily.
Distinct round shape weighing 17 to 24 ounces.
Skin is green when ripe.
Fruit yields to gentle pressure when ripe.
Originated in Carlsbad California in 1960 by James Reed.

FUERTE:
Great taste. Creamy pale green flesh.
Picked November through March.
Smooth skin with medium thickness.
Medium seed size. Peels easily.
Pear shaped weighing 9 to 16 ounces.
Ripe when yields to slight pressure.
Skin is green when ripe.

GWEN:
Great taste with a gold-green flesh.
Similar in appearance and taste to Hass.
Available late summer to late winter.
Pebbly, thick but pliable green skin.
Small to medium sized seed. Peels easily.
Plump oval fruit slightly larger than a Hass.
Green skin will dull and fruit will yield to slight pressure when ripe.
Average weight is 6 to 15 ounces.
Ripe when yields slightly to pressure.

BACON:
A lighter taste with a yellow/green color.
Available in early spring in Orange County California and in late spring in Ventura County California.
Smooth thin green skin.
Large seed. Peels easily.
Oval shaped fruit.
Average weight is 10 to 18 ounces.
Ripe when yields slightly to pressure.
Originated in Buena Park, California by James Bacon. Introduced in 1951.

ZUTANO:
A lighter taste with a pale green flesh with a light texture.
Harvested for September’s season opening.
Smooth and shinny thin green to yellow-green skin that does not peel easily.
Medium seed.
Pear shaped fruit.
Average weight is 11 to 14 ounces.
Originated in Fallbrook, San Diego County, California.
Ripe when yields slightly to pressure.

PINKERTON:
Great taste with a pale green flesh with a creamy texture.
Harvested in January.
Rough pebbly green skin of medium thickness.
Small to medium seed. Excellent peeler.
Oval shaped fruit. High oil content in the flesh.
Average weight of 9 to 18 ounces.
Skin will darken to a deeper green when ripe and yield to slight pressure.

SELECTING AND HANDLING AVOCADOS

• A ripe and ready to eat avocado is one that is still relatively firm but, as stated before, will yield to slight or gentle pressure when held in the palm of your hand and squeezed.
  
• Color alone may not be the true test.
  
• Obviously, if you plan to use avocados immediately buy ripe ones but if you are planning to use them in a recipe within a few days you can ripen avocados by placing them in a cool place and wait for them to ripen, assuming you have the time. If not, then the best way to ripen avocados quickly is to put them in a brown paper bag and store them at room temperature. They will ripen in 2 to 5 days. You can add an apple or banana to the bag if you want to speed up the process even more.
  
• Avocados once cut should be eaten as quickly as possible. Avocados will brown when they are exposed to air. Scraping the brown layer off the avocado is one way to get rid of the browned portion but you can try and prevent browning by sprinkling lemon, limejuice or even vinegar over the cut avocado. Cover it tightly with saran wrap or place it in an airtight container and then put it in the fridge.
• Many people have told me they just leave the seed in the guacamole to prevent browning. I have not had much luck with this technique but maybe it is just me!
  
• If the fruit you have is already ripe and you want to preserve it a few days put it in the refrigerator uncut for at most, three days.
  
• To prepare an avocado cut it lengthwise around the seed. You can use a spoon to scoop out the seed. I use a knife to pierce (really whacking) the seed with the long edge of the blade. Then I twist and the seed pops out. I bang the handle end of the knife against the edge of the trashcan and the seed falls off. This way you never have to touch the blade. Of course I cannot recommend this technique for those of you with no knife skills and only thumbs for digits! I wouldn’t want you to loose those digits you have.
  
• Your can peel an avocado by putting it cut side down and removing the skin with a knife. You can also leave it in the skin, score it with a knife and scoop out the fruit with a big spoon.
  
• You can freeze avocados up to four or five months. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice per two pureed avocados or two chopped avocados and seal in an airtight bag.
  
• Please note that there is documented evidence that avocado is toxic to animals such as cats, dogs, rabbits and birds if they eat the avocado pit, skin, bark, leaves and in some cases the fruit.

GROWING YOUR OWN PLANT

If you have always wanted to plant the avocado seed and have it grow as a houseplant, here’s how.
Wash the seed and suspend, by inserting toothpicks embedded in the sides, fatter end down in a glass of water so the water covers the seed to a depth of one inch or ¼ of the seed.
Put in a warm place out of direct sun and replenish water as necessary.
The pit/seed will crack and in about 4-6 weeks you should see a root and stem sprouting.
When the roots and stem emerge from the seed it can be planted. Some people recommend waiting until the roots have grown to six inches in length and have been trimmed to become thick and the stem has leafed out before you plant the seed.
Plant in a 10-inch pot with rich soil leaving the seed half exposed.
Keep the soil moist but not soaked and give it lots of sunlight.
You can cut the plant back at around 12 inches and this will encourage more shoots.
Most houseplants won’t bear fruit. Those rare ones that do take up to ten years or more to flower and bear fruit and it isn’t usually a fruit you want to eat.

FIELD TRIP

ACW FARM:
I have lived among avocado ranches in Ventura County and never really thought about the processes that went into getting an avocado to the table. I also had that burning question, “why are they so expensive”? I thought that I should actually visit an avocado ranch and learn a little more about the horticulture of avocados.
Coincidentally, Dr. William Arterberry, the Director of the Pathology department at Downey Regional Medical Center, was also an avocado rancher. As I was to learn, after our fabulous field trip, not just any avocado rancher and not just any ranch!

Ken and I, along with long time friend Nancy Pierce visiting from Toronto (she wrote the recipe for the Chevre-Arrugala with Dipping Sauces in The Table One Collection) had the honor of an invite to tour the ACW ranch in a remote, hilly and ruggedly beautiful area of Southern California called De Luz Canyon near Fallbrook in San Diego County. Dr. William Arterberry is a very, very clever and charming man who along with his late wife bought the ranch 37 years ago as a tax shelter. Not only is the ranch beautiful and productive but also the operations associated with the running of an avocado ranch of this size are phenomenal to me. Dr. Arterberry spends 4 days a week at the hospital in his pathology lab peering through a microscope battling disease by correctly identifying, for his colleagues and their patients, the “nasty” cells of specimens that have been scraped, excised, aspirated or biopsied. The other three days a week he is at his ACW ranch enthusiastically tending to his crops. By the way, the name ACW is Dr. Arterberry’s initials backwards. At the ranch he has a full time staff of about 30 people, which doubles during the picking season. Also visiting the ranch that day was Reuben Hofshi. Reuben has been associated with the avocado industry in California for over a quarter of a century as a grower, packer and contributing member of many of the avocado industry’s professional organizations. He is an esteemed member of the California Avocado Commission and his vast pool knowledge of everything avocado is unparalled. He is the “expert” and I was fortunate to be able to spend some time conversing with him about his passion.

ACW Ranch
The ACW ranch is a 1000 acre avocado ranch with about 150,000 avocado trees that translates into 5,000,000 pounds of fruit per year. Remember, I said earlier that the average size of a ranch in California was 10 acres so you know this is a significant operation. It is the largest avocado ranch in North America! The ranch also grows some oranges, blood oranges, pomello and pink grapefruit. Add to that list small quantities of passion fruit, macadamia nuts, coffee, mangoes, bananas, guava, cherimoya, and kumquats. Dr. Arterberrry also keeps bees, lots of bees, enough bees in the ranch’s apiary of over 3000 hives to produce 250,000 pounds of honey a year. The bees, of course, work for the ranch by pollinating the groves. Dr. Arterberry also has an avocado nursery and an agronomist to go with it. He has thousands of young plants ready for the groves.

The De Luz Canyon area is pretty rugged, as I said, with lots of hilly terrain and groves planted on elevations up to 3000 feet. We toured the ranch in a salvaged Ford Explorer that had the crushed roof from rollovers, doors and windows removed for easy ranch use. A true utility vehicle now! We saw the newest acquisition on ACW ranch, an almost $8 million, one-megawatt photovoltaic energy installation. That’s a solar panel system to you and me! It powers most of the energy needs of the ranch especially important in operating the irrigation pumps. As the ranch size is unique and significant in size; the solar system is also unique and significant in size. It is one of the largest solar powered operations in California and the world. The ranch also has numerous buildings and equipment, built in large part from salvaged industrial materials, whose function is to support the ranch operations. There are electricity substations, a welding shop, a machine shop, warehouses, wells, drilling equipment for wells, a honey extraction plant and the nursery. Industry aside, the ranch itself is just a joy to see. Bumping along through the groves in the Ford Explorer, gathering armfuls of Hass and Reed avocados, stopping to pick a grapefruit here and a mango there, smelling the air, taking in the vistas and listening to the ever present buzz of bees was a pastoral respite. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It was so pleasant that I was left quite speechless by the whole experience. A hard thing to do!

AVOCADOS

Dr. Arterberry has groves that are over 30 years old. He used to plant about 100 trees per acre. The trees would get huge often 100’ feet high. This creates a problem for pickers. How do you get to the fruit way up high and how dangerous is that? Now he plants about 400 trees to an acre keeping them trimmed short thus increasing the yield and accommodating easy picking. The avocado fruit matures on the tree and the fruit ripens off the tree. Harvesting depends on the variety. The avocado will still be hard and green when picked. It does take some expertise to know when an avocado is mature. Once picked avocados will ripen in a few days at room temperature. Avocados are kept cool until they reach their destination. In the market you can find several varieties of avocado in several stages of ripeness so you can plan today’s meal, or tomorrows. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t serve avocados in some form or other every few days. Sometimes I don’t even have to do a thing. Ken’s favorite…. Plain old avocado sandwiches!

Check out the avocado recipes.