Posts Tagged “Alligator Pear”

Avocados: 9 Things You Probably Didn’t Know

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IMG_6792Here are nine facts you probably did not know about avocados.

(1)**You can judge when an avocado is ready to eat by squeezing it.  Color alone does not indicate if an avocado is ripe. Hold the  fruit in your palm and then gently squeeze, being careful not to bruise the fruit. It should be firm, but give to gentle pressure.

(2)**Avocados used to be served only to royalty and were a symbol of wealth.  Now, you can enjoy them anytime!

(3)**The most popular avocado is the Hass variety, named after mailman Rudolph Hass from La Habra Heights, Calif.  He patented his tree in 1935.

(4)**Avocados can be used as an ingredient in desserts.  In Brazil, avocados are a popuklar ingredieint for ice creams and in the Philippines they pur’ee avocados with sugar and milk for a dessert drink.

(5)**To ripen, they have to be plucked from trees.  To help ripen an avocado, place it in a brown bag and keep in a cool spot for two to three days.

(6)**During the Super Bowl, there are more than 8 million pounds of avocados eaten across America.  And during Cinco de Mayo, there are about 14 million pounds eaten.

(7)**Avocados don’t self-pollinate; they need another avocado tree close by to produce fruit. The avocado is an Aztec symbol of love and fertility and they only grow in pairs.

(8)**Avocados were used as a spread instead of butter when European sailors traveled to the New World. Learning from the past, avocados are a healthy alternative to butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, and cream cheese.

(9)**Another name for the Hass avocado is the Alligator Pear because of its bumpy, green skin and pear shape.

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