The avocado, is believed to have originated in the state of Puebla, Mexico.
The word “avocado” comes from the Spanish word aguacate, which is from the Aztec “ahuacatl” and referred to their shape: the word meant “testicle”.
Avocados once depended on megafaunas including mammoths, horses and giant ground sloths
to disperse its seeds. However, when the megafaunas became extinct, the fruit had no method of seed dispersal. This would have lead to their extinction without early human farmers.
European sailors on their way to the New World used avocados in place of butter.
It was originally called an "alligator pear" after Irishman Sir Hans Sloane named the avocado tree the “alligator pear tree” in a 1696 index of Jamaican plants. This was because of its pear-like shape and it's bumpy green skin.
The plant was introduced to Indonesia in 1750, Brazil in 1809, South Africa and Australia in the late 1800s, and the the eastern Mediterranean in 1908.
When Marks & Spencer introduced avocados to the United Kingdom in 1968 they had to sell them with a leaflet explaining they were a salad item as customers had tried to stew them.
The Hass Avocado Board says 71.4 million pounds of avocados - that's 142 million avocados - were consumed during the 2012 Super Bowl.
Mexico produces most of the world's avocados. The states that produce the most are México, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, and Michoacan, which accounts for 86% of the total.
The avocado industry in Mexico grew so big that the Mexican cartel for years took over farms through extortion. At its peak, it was estimated that the Mexico drug cartels made $152 million per year from growing and selling avocados. But the city of Tancítaro, the world capital of avocado production, took back their farms back by arming their citizens, building their own police, and bulletproofing their trucks.
The main US producer of the avocado is California, with more than 6,000 groves accounting for about 90% of the fruit's crops.
Avocados are harvested by using a 16-foot pole to reach the high-hanging fruit. Avocados tend to be more expensive than other fruits because of the high cost of labor.
Eighty per cent per cent of all avocados in shops worldwide are descended from one tree grown by a postman and amateur horticulturist Rudolph Hass in 1926. The tree eventually died of root rot and was cut down on September 11, 2002 at the ripe old age of 76.
Rudolph Hass didn't make very much money despite his tree's success as most people bought one single tree and then grew vast orchards from cuttings. He only made $5,000 from his patent, and remained a postman his entire life.
The world's first avocado restaurant, where every dish contains avocado, opened at 254 36th Street, Brooklyn, New York. in April 2017. It ran out of avocados on its first day.
The world’s heaviest avocado weighing 5.6 pounds (2.54 kilograms) was found in Hawaii. The Pokini family from the island of Maui received the Guinness certificate in October 2019 for the avocado weighing 5.6 pounds (2.54 kilograms). To put its size into perspective, the average avocado weighs about 170 g (6 oz).
The word “avocado” comes from the Spanish word aguacate, which is from the Aztec “ahuacatl” and referred to their shape: the word meant “testicle”.
Avocados once depended on megafaunas including mammoths, horses and giant ground sloths
to disperse its seeds. However, when the megafaunas became extinct, the fruit had no method of seed dispersal. This would have lead to their extinction without early human farmers.
European sailors on their way to the New World used avocados in place of butter.
It was originally called an "alligator pear" after Irishman Sir Hans Sloane named the avocado tree the “alligator pear tree” in a 1696 index of Jamaican plants. This was because of its pear-like shape and it's bumpy green skin.
The plant was introduced to Indonesia in 1750, Brazil in 1809, South Africa and Australia in the late 1800s, and the the eastern Mediterranean in 1908.
When Marks & Spencer introduced avocados to the United Kingdom in 1968 they had to sell them with a leaflet explaining they were a salad item as customers had tried to stew them.
The Hass Avocado Board says 71.4 million pounds of avocados - that's 142 million avocados - were consumed during the 2012 Super Bowl.
 |
| Hass avocado |
Mexico produces most of the world's avocados. The states that produce the most are México, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, and Michoacan, which accounts for 86% of the total.
The avocado industry in Mexico grew so big that the Mexican cartel for years took over farms through extortion. At its peak, it was estimated that the Mexico drug cartels made $152 million per year from growing and selling avocados. But the city of Tancítaro, the world capital of avocado production, took back their farms back by arming their citizens, building their own police, and bulletproofing their trucks.
The main US producer of the avocado is California, with more than 6,000 groves accounting for about 90% of the fruit's crops.
Avocados are harvested by using a 16-foot pole to reach the high-hanging fruit. Avocados tend to be more expensive than other fruits because of the high cost of labor.
Eighty per cent per cent of all avocados in shops worldwide are descended from one tree grown by a postman and amateur horticulturist Rudolph Hass in 1926. The tree eventually died of root rot and was cut down on September 11, 2002 at the ripe old age of 76.
Rudolph Hass didn't make very much money despite his tree's success as most people bought one single tree and then grew vast orchards from cuttings. He only made $5,000 from his patent, and remained a postman his entire life.
 |
| A young Hass avocado sprout By Ingvar-fed - wikipedia Commons |
The world's first avocado restaurant, where every dish contains avocado, opened at 254 36th Street, Brooklyn, New York. in April 2017. It ran out of avocados on its first day.
The world’s heaviest avocado weighing 5.6 pounds (2.54 kilograms) was found in Hawaii. The Pokini family from the island of Maui received the Guinness certificate in October 2019 for the avocado weighing 5.6 pounds (2.54 kilograms). To put its size into perspective, the average avocado weighs about 170 g (6 oz).
Americans eat almost 80 million pounds of avocados during the Super Bowl, enough to cover the field 30 feet deep.
The avocado is a climacteric fruit, which matures on the tree, but ripens off the tree. As long as the climate is agreeable, farmers can leave the avocados on the tree for months at a time, using the trees themselves as a sort of storage facility to keep the crop rotating and perpetually in season.
Avocado trees do not self-pollinate; they need another avocado tree close by to bear fruit.
An avocado serving size is 50 calories, which works out to be three thin slices or two tablespoons mashed.
About three-quarters of the edible calories in an avocado are pure fat.
Avocados contain an agent that can help treat acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and deadly form of cancer.
Eating at least two servings of avocado a week can reduce your risk of having a heart attack.
The avocado is a climacteric fruit, which matures on the tree, but ripens off the tree. As long as the climate is agreeable, farmers can leave the avocados on the tree for months at a time, using the trees themselves as a sort of storage facility to keep the crop rotating and perpetually in season.
Avocado trees do not self-pollinate; they need another avocado tree close by to bear fruit.
An avocado serving size is 50 calories, which works out to be three thin slices or two tablespoons mashed.
About three-quarters of the edible calories in an avocado are pure fat.
Avocados contain an agent that can help treat acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and deadly form of cancer.
Eating at least two servings of avocado a week can reduce your risk of having a heart attack.
Avocado leaves, bark, and fruit contain Persin, which is toxic to cats, dogs, rabbits, horses and basically all pets. Birds and rodents are especially sensitive to avocado poisoning,
About 75% of an avocado's energy comes from fat, most of which is mostly heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. The avocado contains more fat-per-unit than any other fruit. The closest competitor to the avocado is the olive.
The avocado stands so far above other fruits in terms of fat-per-fruit that it really should stand in a class all its own.
Avocados are particularly filling because they are very high in fiber. Its fat is slowly digested, which helps your meal stay with you longer.
Avocados are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan and cholesterol-free.
Avocados are the fruit with the highest protein content, on average four grams per fruit.
In eastern China, the avocado is known as è lí ("alligator pear") or huángyóu guǒ ("butter fruit"). In Taiwan, it is known as luò lí or "cheese pear."
82 percent of avocado oil sold in the United States is either rancid or mixed with other oils. While it is a great source of vitamins and minerals when fresh and pure, the vast majority of avocado oil in the United States is of extremely poor quality.
UK retailer Marks & Spencer began lasering bar-codes into its avocados in 2017 to save ten tonnes of paper and five tonnes of glue a year.
The French word "avocat" means both "lawyer" and "avocado."
No comments:
Post a Comment