Avocado Facts and Trivia

Avocado Facts and Trivia

• Abocados contain up to 25% fat, and an average avocado contains 300 calories and 30 grams of fat.
• Avocados are a good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber (with some sources claiming it is the richest fruit in fiber content). Due to their texture, they're good as a first food for babies
• Avocados belong to the Laurel family, the same of the laurel and cinnamon trees
• The place with the highest avocado output in the US is Fallbrook, California. This is the Avocado Capital of the World!
• California boasts 7,000 avocado groves. San Diego County produces 60% of California avocados, with Florida being the second main producer in the US

Avocado seeds contain a milky substance that turns red when exposed to air and was used as ink by Conquistadores
• When avocados were discovered by Spanish conquistadores, they were used a source of indelible ink: the avocado seed yields a milky substance that turns red when oxidized. Some documents painted with this red ink are still intact today.
• During Super Bowl Sunday, in the US, about 50 million pounds of avocados are consumed. According to some nutrition magazines, that is enough to cover an area the size of a football field, to a depth of nearly 12 feet
• Mexico is the world's top producer of avocados, with California coming in second
• Avocados are also called "alligator pear," because of their alligator skin texture and pear shape
• There are currently around 80 different avocado varieties, with the most popular being "Hess"
• Folk wisdom believed that a Mayan princess ate the very first avocado, and it gave her magical powers
• The Aztec word for avocado was ahuacatl, which means "testicle tree"
• Spanish explorers could not pronounce ahuacatl, so they called the avocado aguacate, which is believed to be the etymology of the word guacamole. The sauce itself was copied from the Aztec avocado sauce called ahuaca-hulli.
• Avocados have the highest protein content of any fruit
• Lots of producers use the tree as a warehouse: avocados, when ripe, do not fall off and do not soften excessively, so the fruit can be kept there for several months.
• It is estimated that avocados have been cultivated, in Central America, for almost 7,000 years
• European sailors traveling to the New World used avocados as a substitute for butter, due to its high fat content and texture which made it easier to spread.
• A single, healthy tree can produce from 150 to around 400 fruits in a single year