Avocados

[Guest Nicole]

 

16 Things You Didn’t Know About Avocados

Bet you can't name the three races of avocados!

The history of the avocado is a long and storied one: ancient Central and South Americans were eating them twenty-five hundred years ago; Europeans discovered their buttery appeal in the sixteenth century; Americans started growing them commercially in the 1900s. There are more than one thousand varieties (such as Zutano, Choquette, and Bacon, to name just a few) cultivated around the world from Mexico to  New Zealand to Israel. But it’s the Hass, first grown in Los Angeles County in 1926 and patented in 1935, that took the avocado from regional specialty to international stardom. Why? Because it was a solid bearer of fruit, people liked its rich taste, and it had a longer shelf life than other varieties. The past twenty years have ushered in an era of unprecedented avocado fanaticism in the United States, with domestic consumption growing from one billion avocados in 2000 to more than four billion in 2014. The Los Angeles market consumes the most avocados in the country, which makes sense, considering the harvest the Golden State produces each year.

“California fruit is the top of the line,” says Paul Romero, a district manager at Calavo Growers, a company that began in 1924 as the California Avocado Growers Exchange. He argues that because “the Hass avocado was developed right here in California, genetically it’s set up for California conditions.” Romero, who’s been in the avocado industry since 1978, told me that California avocado folks don’t really retire from the business, they “get old in it”—even in the face of droughts like the one that has recently plagued Southern California.

We’ve all heard the health claims—avocados are packed with potassium, fiber, and monounsaturated fats—and experienced how they make mediocre things taste more delicious, but what else is there to know about the alligator pear?

 1. There’s record of an ancient folk recipe that used the avocado pit in rat poison, but modern health blogs encourage grating it over salads or blending it into smoothies for the added fiber and antioxidant benefits.

 2. Avocados are classified into three races: West Indian, Guatemalan, and Mexican; the Hass variety is a Mexican-Guatemalan crossbreed.

3. The first-recorded avocado tree was grown in California in 1848. But it wasn’t until 1911, when budwood from the best avocado trees in Mexico was planted in California, and later still in 1913, with the surviving Fuerte variety, that we saw the rise of the California avocado industry.

4. The Hass avocado accounts for 95 percent of the American avocado market and 80 percent of global demand. Around 90 percent of domestically grown avocados come from California.

5. An avocado is a fruit, more specifically a single-seeded berry.

6. Avocados were known by the Aztecs as ahuacatl, meaning “testicle,” for their shape and supposed aphrodisiacal qualities.

7. Avocados can freeze during a cold snap, which forces the cells in the flesh and stem to collapse and then explode when the temperature warms, killing the fruit.

8. Avocado trees are evergreen and never go dormant, and while different varieties are harvested at different times of the year, Hass avocados are typically harvested from late February to late October and early November.

9. Avocados mature on the tree but only ripen once picked. It can take anywhere from a few days to two weeks for an avocado to ripen naturally at room temperature. A ripe avocado will keep in the refrigerator for seven to ten days.

10. A just-ripe avocado should have a little purplish blush to it and a gentle yield when pressed. If it’s pitch black, very shiny, smooth, and soft, it’s overripe.

11. Like humans, avocados can get sunburned, causing the skin in those spots to peel away and rancidity to spoil the outermost flesh.

12. Much like bay leaves, avocado leaves (hojas de aguacate), particularly those of the Mexican race, are used as a seasoning in Mexican cuisine. They’re available fresh or dried and impart a subtle anise-like flavor.

13. The darker green flesh nearest the skin is the most nutritious. Peeling off the skin, rather than scooping out the flesh, will get you the most phytonutrients.

14. The calories of an average Hass avocado are about 82 percent fat, making it one of the fattiest fruits in the world, up there with olives, which have about 80 to 90 percent calories from fat.

15. An avocado seed suspended over a glass of water with toothpicks will sprout a stem and roots in a few weeks. Once sprouted, the seed can be transferred to a pot and left to grow into a small plant. Once the plant is grown, it can be transplanted into the ground to grow into a tree. It may take years (five to thirteen) for the tree to flower or bear fruit, but it’s more likely that it won’t produce recognizable fruit at all without cross-pollination from another
tree. Grafting (splicing a scion of a mature tree with the rootstock of a seedling until it forms a new growth) is how professional avocado 

growers replicate their crop, and it encourages flowering and fruit bearing sooner, usually within three to four years.

16. A well-tended avocado tree will grow to about thirty or forty feet tall, but an unpruned wildling avocado tree can grow up to eighty feet tall.

http://luckypeach.com/guides/16-things-didnt-know-avocados/

[Queen Esther]

           This Is What Will Happen When You Eat Avocados Every Day

 

Youve probably seen avocados being touted as a heart-healthy superfood in recent years. Realistically, the truth isnt too far off from the hype. The next time youre grabbing that burrito or turkey sandwich, you might want to consider adding a healthy dollop of guacamole. Here are four reasons that you should consider eating a little bit of avocado each day.
1. You may reduce your risk of heart disease.

Heart disease is the number 1 killer in the United States, affecting nearly 27 million adults, so it only makes sense that we would want to protect ourselves by being more health-conscious in our dietary choices. Avocados have been shown to positively benefit our cardiovascular system in a number of ways due to its low saturated fat and high unsaturated fat content (predominantly the monounsaturated fat (MUFA) variety). Consuming excess saturated fat (>10% of total calories) may raise your LDL and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides. On the contrary, consuming adequate unsaturated fat in your diet may help lower LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol), maintain HDL-cholesterol (good cholesterol) and potentially improve your insulin sensitivity.

In addition its nutritious fat content, avocados also contain a potent mix of nutrients (e.g., potassium and lutein), including plenty of antioxidants such as carotenoids, callexanthophylls and phenols. These compounds can help prevent inflammation and oxidative stress in the blood vessels while facilitating improved blood flow.
2. You may have an easier time maintaining your weight

Eating fat to lose fat; who would have thought? Avocados can help with weight-loss and maintaining a healthy BMI by promoting a feeling of satiety. A recent study showed that including avocado in meals helped extend feelings of fullness and reduced the desire to overindulge. The belly-filling properties of avocados is aided by their high fiber content, about 14g per fruit on average. In addition, higher avocado consumption has been associated with smaller waistlines and lower BMIs in observational studies. Lastly, some research has even shown that weight-loss diets higher in MUFA, like the kind avocados are packed with, may prove healthier for your heart than low-fat weight-loss diets.
3. You might reduce your risk of cancer

Avocados provide us with numerous phytochemicals that may help prevent cancer, including the previously discussed xanthophylls and phenols. A protein compound called glutathione, along with the xanthophyll lutein (both found in avocados), have been associated with decreased rates of oral cancer. Preliminary data also show promising results for avocados potential role in reducing risk of both breast and prostate cancers. Additionally, preliminary studies demonstrate that a specific type of fav derived from avocados is able to exert anti-cancer effects on acute myeloid leukemia cells. Together, these studies show that further research needs to be conducted to draw more conclusive results.
4. You will protect your skin and eyes well into old age

As it turns out, avocado carotenoids do quite a number of things for our body. Both lutein and another compound found in avocados called zeaxanthin can slow age-related ocular decline and prevent vision dysfunction. In addition, these same two nutrients also act as buffers against oxidative UV damage, keeping our skin smooth and healthy. The bioavailability (ease of absorption by our body) of carotenoids from avocados compared to many other fruits and vegetables makes eating avocados every day a sensible choice.

Recipes to try:

Avocado Smoothie

    ½ ripe avocado
    1 ripe banana
    ½ cup low-fat yogurt
    ½ cup orange juice
    OPTIONAL: handful of ice

Combine ingredients into blender and mix.

Bacon Peach Guacamole

    1 ripe peach
    2 ripe avocados
    ¼ red onion, minced
    2 strips bacon, crisped
    Salt and pepper to taste

Cut peaches into small dice and place in bowl. Mash avocados and combine with peaches. Crisp bacon in skillet, dice and add to bowl. Mince onion and add to guacamole. Enjoy with whole-grain tortilla chips.

Aside from the multitude of health benefits, avocados have the extra bonus of being a tasty, creamy food that can be incorporated into shakes, desserts, dips, and toppings. So dont be afraid to add avocado !

 

[Guest Nicole]

An avocado a day keeps the cardiologist away

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Adding an avocado to your daily diet may help lower bad cholesterol, in turn reducing risk for heart disease, according to health researchers.

Avocados are known to be a nutrient-dense food, high in monounsaturated fatty acids. Previous studies have suggested that avocados are a cholesterol-lowering food, but this is the first study -- to the researchers' knowledge -- to look at health implications of avocados beyond monounsaturated fatty acids.

"Including one avocado each day as part of a moderate-fat, cholesterol-lowering diet compared to a comparable moderate-fat diet without an avocado provides additional LDL (low-density lipoproteins) lowering affects, which benefit CVD risk," said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition.

Kris-Etherton and colleagues tested three different diets, all designed to lower cholesterol: a lower-fat diet, consisting of 24 percent fat, and two moderate fat diets, with 34 percent fat. The moderate fat diets were nearly identical, however one diet incorporated one Hass avocado every day while the other used a comparable amount of high oleic acid oils -- such as olive oil -- to match the fatty acid content of one avocado. Hass avocados are the smaller, darker variety with bumpy green skin and have a higher nutrient content than Florida avocados, which are larger, and have smoother skin and a higher water content.

Read more: http://news.psu.edu/story/339842/2015/01/07/research/avocado-day-keeps-cardiologist-away

[admin]

We know avocados aren’t typically considered a “dangerous” fruit (like peaches). But we’ve got some news...

Avocado crime is on the rise. Mexican criminal gangs facing a lull in the drug business have turned to avocado theft, the FT reports. Their main target: the dozen trucks an hour leaving Mexico’s avocado belt for the U.S. 

Zoom out: The Mexican avocado industry is growing at a healthy clip. Sales to the U.S., the largest importer of Mexican avocados, bring in almost $2 billion annually.

Avo demand spikes right before the Super Bowl. The Hass Avocado Board said we’ll consume 153 million pounds of the good fat during tomorrow’s game. 

Two weeks ago, Mexican avocado exports to the U.S. had their best week ever. 

+ Bonus avocado content: The WSJ explores the rise of “avocado-hand,” the act of stabbing or slicing yourself while de-pitting an avocado. More than half of the 50,413 reported avocado-related injuries from 1998–2017 have happened since 2013.