AVOCADOS

Source: Leonard, Jonathan Norton. and the editors of Time-Life Books. 1969. Latin American Cooking Time-Life Books, New York.

Pear-shaped bland, buttery fruit available the year round at find groceries and fruit and vegetable stands. Especially plentiful from january to Arpil. Avocados vary widely in color, texture of skin, and size. Skin may range from smooth light green to pubbled dark green or purple. Avocados may weigh from a few ounces to as much as 2 pounds. Their flavor has no relationship to their color and size. When ripe, this fruit yields to gentle pressure of the fingers. Hard avocados will ripen in a day or so. If a ripe avocado is not to be used at once, it may be refrigerated for a day or two. When the fruit is cut or peeled, sprinkle its exposed surfaces at once with fresh lemon or lime juice to prevent discoloring.

ajowan lovage seeds, car

Kittler, Pamela Goyan and Kathryn Pl. Sucher. 2000. Cultural Foods. Wadsworth Thomason Publishing.

or alligator pear is pear-shaped to round fruit with leathery skin (green to black) and light green buttery flesh. Native to Central America.

Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.

is a pear-shaped fruit with a rough leathery skin, smooth oil edible flesh, and a large stone. -
ORIGIN from Spanish, alteration (influenced by avocado 'advocate') of aguacate, from Nahuatl ahuacatl.

Excerpts from Hawkes, Alex D. 1968. A World of Vegetable Cookery. Simon and Schuster, New York.

The Avocado (Perssea americana, of the Laurel Family), also known oddly as Alligator Pear, is one of those fruits which is most often treated as a vegetable at our tables. Originally from Mexico and Guatemala, the Avocado was introduced into South America in pre-Columbian days, being cultivated there by the Incas.

Though the wild Avocados, produced mostly during May and June on a stately tree as much as one hundred feet tall, are scarcely three inches across, development of many improved varieties here permits us to enjoy fruits ten or eleven inches in length, weighing as much as four pounds, for some nine months of the year.

There are three cultivars of avocados (Persea americana), two of which, the West Indian and the Guatemalan, are common in Hawaii. This fruit is pear-shaped, round, or obovoid and sometimes weighs more than three pounds. The brilliant green skin, which changes in some varieties to red, purple, or purplish black as the fruit matures, varies from smooth to warty in texture and has a characteristic nutty flavor. The best varieties have very little fiber imbedded in the flesh. With the exception of olive oil, no other fruit contains as large a percentage of fat as the avocado.

The fat content varies widely from 7 to 26 percent according to variety and race. The variation of water content is equally wide. The calorie value of any one sample of avocado, though always great in comparison with that of other fruits, will vary according to the fat and water content, one-fourth to one-half of a medium-size avocado yielding 100 calories. Avocados are a poor source of calcium, a fair to poor source of iron, and a fair source of phosphorus. They are a fair source of provitamin A and thiamine, a good source of riboflavin and niacin, and a poor source of ascorbic acid.

Information of unknown source - appears to be trade journal information. Excerpted Information

Avocados apparently originated in Central america and Mexico, where they have been enjoyed as food for over twenty centuries. They have been known by many names, including"ahuacatl" to the ancient Aztecs (who regarded them as aphrodisiacs),"agovago pears" in the West Indies (where George Washington first sampled them in 1751), and such fanciful names as"butter pear","alligator pear,""custard apple" and dozens more. The Mexicans brought the avocado north with them, where it became part of the Spanish cuisine in our Southwest.

The avocado is unique in many respects. Technically considered a fruit, it is distinct in containing oil. It never ripens for eating on the tree and requires unusual picking and handling. Its tremendous versatility as an ingredient in salads, appetizers, main dishes, beverages, desserts, snacks, sandwiches and soups have led many to consider it a vegetable, but is is more correctly regarded as"the all-around fruit."

Avocados are nutritious, too! They are very good sources of vitamin A, iron and vitamin E and supply important amounts of many B-vitamins, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and several minerals. They are low in sodium and contain no cholesterol.

How to Select

Avocados are available year-round because of the different varieties produced. The main varieties are the green Fuerte, marketed chiefly in winter and early spring, and the dark, pebbly-skinned Hass, available in the summer.

The best guide to choosing avocados is the way they feel. Choose soft ones that yield slightly to light pressure for eating right away. Firm ones will need to ripen at room temperature for a few days for best eating quality.

Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.

Fruit of Persea americana Unusual among fruits in its high fat content, 17-27%.
Analysis per 100g: 69g water, 4 g protein, 22g fat, 1.8 g carbohydrate, 5-30mg vitamin C, 220 kcal (920kJ), 7-14% of the fat is linoleic acid.

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Compiled for Food Resource http://food.oregonstate.edu