At parties and other events surrounding the Super Bowl February 3 an estimated 79 million pounds of avocados are expected to be served. This is enough avocados to fill a football field end zone to end zone 30 feet deep, according to a news release from the Irvine, Calif.-based Hass Avocado Board.
This year’s expected total would top the 2012 Super Bowl total by nearly 8 million pounds. There was 8 million pounds of avocados were served around the Super Bowl in the year 2000. Skyrocketing demand and a huge Mexican avocado crop are primary factors in record volumes predicted this year.
About 986 million pounds of Mexican avocados will be shipped to the U.S. in 2012-13, up from 782 million pounds in 2011-12, according to the Association of Michoacán State Avocado Producers and Packers (APEAM).
California Avocado History
There are no records that indicate exactly when avocados made their way to California, though it was most likely in the 1850’s. It was reported by the 1856 California State Agricultural Society Report that Thomas J. White grew the avocado in Los Angeles. Old avocado trees were planted near the Mission Santa Cruz and the oldest living tree can be found at the University of California – Berkeley. Many of the avocado trees of Southern California are descendents of trees planted by people from Mexico and Guatemala.
It is generally accepted that the avocado industry began in 1911 when Frederick Popenoe sent Carl Schmidt into Mexico to find better varieties for his nursery, in Altadena, California. Schmidt would locate what would be named the Fuerte (spanish for strong) Avocado in Atlixco, Mexico. The Fuerte proved to be of superior quality and one which adapted well to temperature changes.
In 1912, J.T. ’Grandpa’ Whedon, of Yorba Linda in Orange County sold his pigs and purchased five acres of land and decided to become an avocado grower, much to the displeasure of his wife. Grandpa ordered 40 avocado trees from Frederick Popenoe’s nursery. Grandpa travelled to the nursery to claim his trees, but when he arrived he was told his trees were killed in a freeze. Frederick was not able to return all of the money that Grandpa had paid, so Grandpa took some scrawny little avocado trees back instead. His orchard would be blessed and he would reap great rewards and had world’s first Fuerte avocado grove.