Smashed Avocado

The avocado is home to Mexico; there are larger varieties of avocado, the Haas has the creamiest, most delicious flesh. Nearly all avocados grown in Mexico are Hass.

Mesoamericans “discovered the avocado”, which had grown there for more than 50 million years. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1519 the fruit was called aguacate.

There are hundreds of avocado cultivars, the vast majority are grown as garden trees, not as commercial crops. The Hass is one of the smaller varieties of avocado: Rich, buttery and flavorful, the flesh is said to have the subtle taste of toasted almonds. The large, smooth  and thin skinned avocados in the market that hail from the Caribbean have a more bland flavor and are much less oily than the Hass. This makes them less good for guacamole. They don’t mash as well, even though the size might promise an excellent guacamole yield, the quality isn’t there. They are still excellent for salads and other culinary purposes.

The Hass avocado is named after Rudolph Hass, a California postman who planted a seedling in his front yard, 1920s and patented the cultivar in 1935. When he died in 1952 (the year his patent expired as well), he had no idea that the black-green avocado with the pebbled flesh would become comprise 95% of the avocados grown in California and 80% of the avocados eaten worldwide. The tree itself succumbed in 2002 at the “ripe” old age of 76 to root fungus. More than $1 billion of Hass avocados are sold in the U.S., according to the California Avocado Commission.

More than 49% of American household eat avocados.

Research Source: The Nibble

This is a quick and easy breakfast or afternoon snack.

Smashed Avocado

Recipe by Christine Lamb (Christine’s Pantry), 2015

Ingredients:

2 avocados, peeled and pitted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 roma tomato, seeded and minced

4 slices toast

black pepper, garnish

Directions:

In a small bowl, smash avocados. Add lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and tomato, mix well. Spread on toast and sprinkle with black pepper. Enjoy!