Everything You Wanted to Know About Avocado, Plus a Guacamole Recipe

Just before the end of avocado season, here's everything important you need to know about this fruit.

Name: The Aztecs, Native Americans who ruled Mexico in the 15th century AD, gave the avocado its name. In their language, it is called ahuacatl, a difficult word to pronounce, so it's a good thing that most languages simply call it avocado.

Country of Origin: The avocado originated in Central America. The Spaniards who conquered Mexico spread it to South America and, later, to Africa and Asia. Interestingly, it reached Mexico's northern neighbor, the USA, only at the beginning of the 20th century. Also, around the same time, the avocado made its way to Israel and settled in the lands of the agricultural school "Mikveh Israel."

Forms: As a spread in a sandwich, diced in vegetable salads, wrapped or filled in sushi, mashed with grated eggs, or even pureed with ripe bananas—all seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Additionally, avocado oil is cold-pressed. This oil has a green color and an avocado aroma. Its acidity is less than one percent, making it a very high-quality oil. You can use avocado oil to season vegetable salads or for frying. Yes, indeed.

What's in it for us? Avocado contains fourteen percent oil, of which two percent is saturated fat. This saturated fat makes the avocado solid rather than liquid. Some are concerned about its fat content making it fattening. So here's some reassurance: Fat is one of the essential nutrients, meaning without fat, life cannot be sustained, and without fat, maintaining a healthy weight is challenging. Therefore, if the fat and saturated fat are plant-based rather than animal-based (cholesterol), it's a fat that provides essential fatty acids. However, as always, everything in moderation. One serving of fat is equivalent to a quarter of a medium avocado.

What a Bummer

What a bummer it is to buy ready-made avocado spread, read the list of ingredients, and discover preservatives and other harmful additives. Instead, peel an avocado, mash it with a fork, and make an excellent, tasty, and nutritious spread.

What a bummer it is to buy a hard avocado, wait for it to ripen, and then discover it's gone black inside, making it inedible. Therefore, don't eat avocados in the summer but rather in the winter, which is their ripening season.

What a bummer it is to cut an avocado, store the leftover in the refrigerator, and shortly thereafter find it has turned black, indicating oxidation. To prevent this, remove the blackened layer or preemptively add fresh lemon juice to avoid oxidation while also adding vitamin C.

Guacamole Spread Recipe

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado

Quarter of a medium tomato or 2 cherry tomatoes

1 large garlic clove

1/2 teaspoon salt (preferably Himalayan salt)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Juice from half a fresh lemon

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until a smooth and uniform mixture is achieved.

Tip - Do not mash with a fork or mash to a puree. It won't give the desired texture.

Want to know more? Purchase the series of lessons"Growing Healthy", conducted by naturopath Sarah Bar Asher. Available for purchase atthe Jewish Campus on the Hidabroot website.

Naturopath Sarah Bar Asher is a journalist, a food factory auditor, a lecturer at Wingate Institute's College for Complementary Medicine, and a lecturer on "Bearing Fruit."