An introduction to Avocados

The love for avocados, thanks to its delicious goodness and abundant health benefits, has soared since the last decade, especially among millennials. The dark green spherical-shaped fruit with its rich buttery taste and texture has been widely known for its health benefits and has made its way into several dishes – the most popular being guacamole.

So, what if I tell you that avocados didn’t originally contain as much flesh as we get nowadays? Actually, this fruit was always there in the wild, but remained unnoticed for the longest time. Wild avocados are much smaller in size and contain approximately one-tenth, if not less, amount of flesh than a cultivated average-sized avocado.

Avocado trees are said to be originally found in southern part of North America, now known as Mexico, and the staple Mexican dip-sauce guacamole, which transforms the fruit with buttery goodness into a burst of flavors, could be the proof of its origin.

Nutritional value of Avocado

Avocados are a highly nutritious fruit choice as it contains Vitamin K, Folate, Vitamin C, Potassium, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, magnesium, iron, vitamins A, among many other nutritional supplements.

As much as 77% of the calories in avocados are good fat. The majority of the fat present in an avocado is oleic acid — a monounsaturated fatty acid. The monounsaturated fat is considered to help lower risks of cardiovascular diseases, unlike saturated fat which increases cholesterol levels and contribute to certain heart disease risk factors.

The commercial production of avocado bloomed as Rudolf Hass, a Californian postman and amateur horticulturist, tried to grow the stony fruit. His practice became successful as consumers fell in love with its divine taste and sellers were happy with the durable shelf-life of avocados. Hass then patented ‘Hass Avocado’, which can now be found in almost all global supermarkets and fruit shops, occupying 95 per cent of commercial avocado production.

Many may wonder — but how did this fruit gain so much popularity? Well, social media platforms can be attributed for providing avocados a major aesthetic push. With help of celebrities and celebrity chefs posting pretty picture of gobsmacking avocado dishes on Instagram, the fruit gained monumental popularity, especially among the age groups of 20s and 30s.

Meanwhile, the delicious and nutritious fruit has also gained popularity among vegetarians and vegans as a meat and egg-substitute.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), a healthy diet should include eating at least 400 g or five portions of fruits and vegetables per day, which not only reduces the risk of non-communicable diseases such as malnutrition but also ensures adequate intake of dietary fiber.

Avocados in Nepal

In Nepal, avocado production is believed to have originated some three decades ago when UK research officers brought the fruit to the country for their consumption. However, Horticulture Supervisor at Pakhribas Agriculture Research Centre, Krishna Poudel, informed that his team has even found a 60-70-year-old avocado tree during their research.

Paudel said awareness regarding health benefits of avocados among consumers and the potential of the fruit being a cash crop as well as a good income source for Nepali farmers have been some major reasons why farmers are much interested in farming avocados locally.

Now, the popularity and health benefits of avocado has paved its way not only into the food market but also into the oil market, pharmaceutical sector and cosmetics industry. Holy guacamole, such goodness packed in a single fruit!