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27.9%ANMag Issue 27 Global Awareness
Avocado
By Salwa Zahabi, Staff Writer
Beirut, Lebanon – Avocado trees are tall evergreen trees that can grow up to 65 feet in height. Such trees are known to have poor water uptake. Although avocado trees produce an abundance of flowers, usually less than 0.1% of the flowers set fruit.
The occurrence of frost during the winter, low mean temperatures during flowering and fruit set, and the onset of extremely high temperatures, during fruit setting, are the major climatic factors that affect flowering & fruit setting in avocadoes.
The avocado is a climacteric fruit in the sense that it matures on the tree but ripens off the tree. An avocado usually becomes ripe when picked from the tree. We cannot know in advance whether an avocado fruit is mature enough to harvest because the external appearance of an avocado fruit is not a clear indication about its stage of maturity.
The avocado comes in a variety of colors and flavors. They differ in their size, appearance, quality and susceptibility to cold. The yellow-green flesh, with the nutty flavor, is the edible part of the fruit, where as the skin and the pit are inedible.
An Avocado has many names. The English, living in Jamaica, call the avocado an “alligator pear”. In Jamaica today, the people call the avocado “pear”. The Dutch call it “avocaat”; Spain call it “abogado”, and France call it “avocatier”.
Although they are fruits, avocados are known to have a high fat content of between 71% to 88% of their total calories. A typical avocado contains 30 grams of fat, but 20 of these fat grams are health-promoting monounsaturated fats, especially oleic acid that may help in lowering cholesterol.
Avocados are a good source of potassium, a mineral that helps in regulating blood pressure. Avocados have a concentrated dietary source of the carotenoid lutein. Avocados are in fact a good source of vitamin K, vitamin E, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and copper. As a result, avocadoes are highly recommended in weight control diets due to their rich supply of minerals and vitamins. Per calorie, the avocado is indeed remarkably nutritious.
Avocadoes are very popular in vegetarian cuisine, making perfect substitutes for meats in sandwiches. Due to their sweet, fatty, strongly flavored creamy texture, avocadoes can be added to soups, fruit cocktails, salads, dips, sandwich spreads, entree, and desserts. In Mexico, avocadoes are used as the base for the Mexican dip, known as “guacamole”. In Brazil and Vietnam, avocados are added to milk-shakes and to ice creams. In Central America, avocados are served mixed with white rice. In Chile, avocadoes are used as a puree in chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs.
An avocado has various uses as a natural cosmetic due to its rapid skin penetration and notable absorption, thus it can be used a superior natural sunscreen. Its oil can be used as a skin moisturizer, cleansing cream, makeup base, lipstick, bath oil, and hair conditioner.
It is very important not to refrigerate avocadoes until they are ripe. Once ripe, they can be kept refrigerated for up to a week. If we want to refrigerate a whole avocado, it is best to keep it whole without slicing it to avoid browning. Browning of the avocado usually occurs when its flesh is exposed to air. We can prevent the natural darkening of the avocado flesh by simply sprinkling it with a little lemon juice or vinegar.
Documented evidence has shown that animals can be severely harmed or even killed when they consume avocado leaves, bark, skin, or pit. In some cases, the avocado fruit is poisonous to birds.
Avocado health benefits are gradually becoming more widely recognized all around the globe. An Avocado is the most nutritious of all fruits. In fact, an avocado delivers a whole heath-promoting package. In many people’s minds, the two major advantages of avocado, which are high monounsaturated fat content and exquisite nutty flavor, are twisted into disadvantages. In other words, avocadoes have received the undeserved reputation of being fattening and being packed with fictitious calories.