Avocado: Origin and benefits

The avocado is a relatively new product at Torres Tropical!

There are many varieties of avocado; they differ in shape, skin texture, taste and skin color. As for the color, they all look green when unripe, but only the Hass variety fruits turn into brown purple when they get ready to eat. All varieties have a greenish to yellowish flesh and a brown inedible seed.

Most countries growing avocado are around the Equator, including Brazil! However, even countries like Spain or Italy offer this delicious fruit during a short season.

Origin

The first area where avocado seemed to be found is Central America, especially Mexico where the name has its funny origin that will bring you to never look at avocado the same way.

The Aztecs found avocado around 500 BC. They liked its texture, shape and size, as well as the way it grows, in pairs. This is why they named it ‘āhuacatl’ that means ‘testicle’. Later, the Spanish conquistadors arrived and changed the name into “aguacate” that is simply a phonetic adaptation and has nothing to do with the Aztec translation of the original name, lucky us!

When the avocado started to be exported to the United States, the word “aguacate”, difficult to pronounce for Americans, turned into “avocado”.

Benefits

The avocado is a very nutritious fruits, rich in proteins, vitamin E, folates, fiber and potassium. Its oil contains antioxidants and it is therefore good for fighting free radical damage. It also fortifies the skins collagen, which keeps the skin supple and youthful.

Avocado also contains healthy fat. It reduces bad cholesterol and inflammation in the body, it prevents arthritis and cancer, it protects the eyes, it helps in losing weight, it provides nutritional support to babies (already during the pregnancy) and it enriches breast milk.

As it is in other fruits, the concentration of these helpful nutrients is higher in the avocado skin. So scrape the flesh as close to the skin as possible when you eat this delicious and rich fruit. Eat it fresh and raw, as the cooking ruins the flavor. The air exposure oxidizes the avocado very quickly, but you can avoid it with some lemon juice drops on top of it.

You can keep a cut avocado for one or two days in the refrigerator with lemon juice or with chopped onions; both helps avoiding the oxidation. However, the best thing to do is to cut it and eat it all the same day!

Faso the pheasant, representing our Belleza avocado's!