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Avocado is a favorite fruit of many, but it is not always easy to find it, and even more difficult to choose - they often lie on the shelves unripe and hard. And yet this is not a reason to deny yourself pleasure, but just a matter of time and patience. We learned from the owner of the Avocado Point cafe about how to choose avocados, what varieties are there, which ones you should pay attention to, and, of course, how an avocado should ripen correctly.

How to choose?

Elina Osipova

owner of the Avocado Point bar chain

The fruit of an avocado is primarily a berry, and the ripeness of any berry is determined by how easily it can be picked from the bush. While we in Russia do not pick avocados from trees and all fruits are brought in a semi-cooked state, there are a couple of simple ways to determine the ripeness of an avocado: softness gives us the first message about ripeness, but you should not rely on this alone, since even moderately soft can be unripe, overripe and, worse, rotten inside.

When buying, it is important to look at the stalk, it should separate easily enough, but at the same time not fall off on its own - this is the first sign that the avocado is rotten. The color of the fruit under the handle is also important, it should be a sure light yellow, a little greenish, most importantly - not dark, otherwise it will be dark inside.

What varieties are there?

Avocado is the star among fruits, there are hundreds of varieties in different shapes, sizes, colors, flavors and textures. The most popular and present on the shelves:

"Hass"- black skin, round shape and small stone size, delicate buttery texture, yellow flesh and slightly nutty flavor, ideal for guacamole. "Hass" is also pleasant because it is easy to transport and it ripens perfectly, rarely spoils and turns black. The most reliable variety. Season - all year round, brought from Kenya, Israel, South Africa, Mexico.

"Fuerte"- green peel, elongated shape, the stone is usually small. This variety has a more grassy taste, is more unstable in ripening, the flesh is white-yellow. Season - summer and autumn.

"Ettinger"- thin green peel, drop-shaped, but a very large stone, this is a significant disadvantage of this variety, because the weight of the fruit is quite large - 200–250 grams, there is little pulp in it, and the stone inside quickly begins to grow white bloom, because of which the fruit itself loses its taste and turns into a potato. Season from September to January.

"Pinkerton"- pimply skin, small bone, yellower at the stone and lighter at the edges, pear-shaped. The skin is easily detached, as in the Hass, and the weight is usually greater. Season - autumn - spring.

There are also more exotic varieties that can be found in markets like Usachevsky and Danilovsky:

Semil 34- very tasty, oval shape, often looks like a ball, the weight of one fruit is up to a kilogram, and the pure pulp is about 65–70%. It is very important that, despite the fact that the variety is from the hot Dominican Republic, it is frost-resistant, that is, it can be stored for a long time and nothing will come of it. It has several stages of maturation and this changes the taste. Ready "semi" has a fresh fruity taste, juicy, and you can even eat it just like that, not very good for guacamole, as it will be watery. However, let it overripe a little, and it will be one to one like “hass”, that is, it will become oily, a nutty taste will appear, the flesh will turn bright yellow.

"Royal Black Avocado" from Burma and Vietnam. This variety is very similar to the giant "hass": black dense skin and extraordinary flesh. The shape of an ideal ball and a small stone, this variety produces the most delicious and beautiful guacamole, as the flesh has a canary-yellow color. This variety can occasionally be found on the shelves in specialized exotic fruit stores. The season is very short - December - March.

What to do with the unripe?

Finding a ripe avocado on the shelves is not always easy - the reality is that most often we buy a hard avocado and wait for it to ripen. Question: how to do it faster? There are a lot of videos on the Internet on how to quickly ripen avocados: someone bakes in foil, someone puts them together with bananas. My method does not guarantee two hours of ripening, but it will definitely not ruin the taste and texture, which, in my opinion, is the most important thing.

We find out what an avocado is, what it is eaten with and what chefs in Moscow restaurants cook with it.

Recently, not only Russia, but the whole world is experiencing a real avocado boom. And if earlier our compatriots were afraid to even approach the mysterious fruit, now this product has more and more fans. In turn, each restaurant considers it its duty to have a salad, an appetizer, and sometimes an avocado dessert on the menu. We understand what kind of fruit it is and what its features are.

Vegetable or fruit

The first question that comes to mind in connection with the avocado is: is it a fruit or a vegetable? Or perhaps a nut? Dispel all doubts: avocado is a fruit. In the Western classification, it is given an even more subtle definition: a berry with one seed. Here is such an unsweetened and rather fatty berry, which is healthier than many vegetables.

Origin and varieties

Historically, the birthplace of avocado is South America, and in Aztec the name of the fruit means "male testicle", hinting at its aphrodisiac properties. Gradually, avocado spread throughout the world, and today it is grown in Asia, South America, and Israel, from where, by the way, most of the fruits are brought to Russia. In supermarket chains and ordinary stores in our country, avocados are sold indiscriminately into varieties, but the first thing that will catch your eye is the Hass avocado, or Haas, as it was dubbed by inattentive sellers. Such a fruit is suitable for guacamole, sauces, spreads: it has a fatter, looser and creamy texture, so it will be a little more difficult to cut it into cubes for salad.

The second option is fruits with a skin of a lighter shade: from green to emerald. The skin itself can be both smooth and bumpy. These varieties are great for salads and simply beautiful cuts for Instagram photos, as they make perfect slices and cubes, not mashed potatoes. Want to try something a little more unusual? Keep looking in specialty exotic fruit stores for Brazilian or Thai varieties of giant avocados, which have a fairly firm texture and a very pleasant nutty flavor.

The avocado season is officially February-September. But this time period is arbitrary, because in fact, in the current market conditions, the season lasts all year round, depending on where the fruit is grown.

Beneficial features

The main beneficial properties of avocados are concentrated, oddly enough, in fat: the fruit contains the very monounsaturated fatty acids that modern doctors, nutritionists and even fitness instructors are so actively pointing out. In this sense, the fruit is useful for blood vessels, and for muscles, and for metabolism, and for maintaining overall tone. So a good avocado equates to a piece of salmon or a handful of almonds - the healthiest thing! In addition, avocado for fruit is exceptionally rich in vegetable proteins and potassium, which is good for the heart. Vitamins A and E are also abundant in it. The calorie content is not the lowest, of course, but it doesn’t go off scale either: about 160 kcal per 100 grams is nonsense compared to the benefits, besides, due to the presence of healthy fats, avocados fill up much better than a couple of apples. So we discard doubts and include it in the diet!

How to choose and store

It is really not always possible to buy a good, juicy, fatty avocado, but still it is possible even in a regional supermarket. First of all, pay attention to the skin: it should not have obvious dark spots, it should be whole and undamaged. There is another trick: if you pick up the stalk, you can see the pulp. It is worth buying fruit only if it is pale green in color. Feel a good avocado - dense, only slightly soft, but not "wooden". You can check this in this way: take the avocado firmly and confidently in one hand, holding it by the sides, and with the thumb of the other hand, press lightly on the skin. If the avocado has reached the condition, then a small, neat dent will remain on the skin.

However, a slightly unripe avocado is not such a big problem. The fruits ripen well at home: you just need to let them lie down at room temperature for several days. Want to speed up the process? Place the avocado in a paper bag or wrap it properly in paper towels. For express ripening, you can use the magical power of apples or bananas and toss them into a bag with an avocado. By the way, note to the hostess: the peel of apples and bananas emit especially a lot of ethylene, which speeds up the process of ripening fruits and vegetables. So such a feint can be done not only with avocados, but also with other unripe fruits.

How to cook

There are not so many options for cooking avocados. Firstly, when raw, it is put in a salad or in any other dish: it adds a delicate texture and a nutty flavor. Adherents of a healthy diet recommend replacing mayonnaise with avocado puree: it turns out just as fat and tender, but dozens of times healthier! Secondly, avocado halves are perfectly grilled: the taste of the fruit changes slightly, acquiring only a pleasant smoky aroma. Of course, different sauces, dips and spreads are made from avocados, like Mexican guacamole. Avocado puree is also used for making desserts as a dense and fatty base for cheesecakes and cakes, or added to mousses.

What to combine

Classics of the genre are avocados and citrus fruits, such as lime or lemon juice. In addition, fleshy, juicy tomatoes will be an impeccable pair to it. According to the same principle, any sour fruits and vegetables are selected for avocados, which have enough strength to dilute its noble fat content. In Karen Page's book ABC of Taste, beloved by many chefs, more interesting combinations are offered, for example:

• Avocado + basil + balsamic vinegar + red onion + tomatoes
• Avocado + Chili + Cointreau + Lime + Black Pepper + Salt + Shallot
• Avocado + chili jalapeno + cilantro + cumin + garlic + lime juice + onion
• Avocado + cream fresh + grapefruit
• Avocado + Endive + Frise + Lemon Juice + Sea Salt
• Avocado + lemon + smoked trout

Avocado belongs to the genus Perseus, which includes about 150 species. Avocados are evergreens. These are either fairly tall trees (up to 20 - 30 m tall), or shrubs. Leaves are leathery, entire, alternate. Flowers are collected in panicles or umbellate. The fruit is a drupe, round or pear-shaped (more like an eggplant). Homeland - Mexico and Central America.

In culture, only one species is widely known as a valuable fruit plant - Persea americana (P. gratissima Gaertn.), or Avocado. These are trees up to 20 m tall with long (sometimes up to 40 m) leaves, elliptical-lanceolate, oval, entire, glossy above, dark green, bluish below on long (up to 10 cm) petioles. Flowers bisexual, collected in panicles. The fruit is a drupe, large up to 20 cm long; dark green, brown, red (fruit pulp is fleshy, oily, creamy yellow, fragrant).

Avocados first appeared in Cuba and Jamaica. It came to California only in 1856. The industrial production of avocado fruits is developed in Florida, Brazil, India, the Hawaiian Islands, and partly in Argentina. The introduction of avocados in the warmest regions of the Black Sea coast (especially in Gagra) gave good results, but avocados appeared in sufficient quantities only in the last 5 years, when supplies from abroad began.

There are about 400 varieties of avocados, from small ones (the size of a plum) to large ones weighing up to one kilogram. Avocados are brought from Latin America, but recently they have been grown in Africa and Israel. Among the new varieties, you can find avocado fruits that are light green, or dark purple. The shape of the fruit is also different - from an apple to a pear shape. The surface of the fruit may be mirror-smooth or strongly wrinkled. Harvest avocados unripe, during storage they should ripen.

In India, the avocado is called the "poor man's cow". Avocado fruits contain up to 45% fatty oil, up to 30% unsaturated fatty acids, the amount of protein is 2-3 times higher than the content of proteins in apples, pears, grapes, citrus fruits, bananas and other fruits. The fruits are rich in vitamins of groups B, A, E, D and contain a small amount of vitamin C. There are enough minerals, and in terms of calories, avocados are 2.5 times higher than all other fresh fruits. The high calorie content and low carbohydrate content make avocados especially valuable for diabetics.

It grows in forests and in humid areas, on mountain slopes at an altitude of 600 - 1000 m above sea level in Mexico and Central America. By geographical origin, the following varieties of American Perseus are distinguished: Mexican, Guatemalan and Antillean.

mexican. Trees below American Perseus (up to 12 m), the leaves smell of anise when rubbed. Blooms from late March to early June. The fruits are small (150 - 200 g), ripen within 5 - 7 months, in September - November. These are subtropical plants from the highlands of Mexico and Central America.

Guatemalan. Leaves without the smell of anise. Mass flowering in the second half of May. The fruits are large (up to 600 g) with a rough surface, ripen within 8 - 12 months. It grows in the mountainous regions of Guatemala and southern Mexico, less cold-resistant than the Mexican.

Antillean. Leaves without the smell of anise. Blossoms in late May - June, in October - November. The fruits are large 200 - 600 g, pear-shaped, with a smooth surface and thin skin, ripen within 7 - 8 months. These are heat-loving plants from the tropical regions of Central America.

Location: summer from bright to sunny, but protected from the midday sun. In winter - light at a temperature of 10-12 degrees, but even in this case, the plant can shed its leaves, which will reappear only in spring.

Of all the varieties, the Antillean group is represented by fast-growing plants that are easily propagated by seeds and vegetatively (budding). Large, up to 5.5 cm long, fresh avocado seeds are sown in 9 cm pots so that the top of the seeds is at soil level. The soil mixture is prepared from 1 part of leafy soil, 1 part of peat and 1 part of sand.

When the seedlings grow to 11 - 12 cm in height, they need to be transferred to pots of a larger capacity (11 - 13 cm), preparing the soil of the following composition: turf land - 2 parts, humus - 1 part, sand - 1 part.

Care for plants consists in abundant watering, top dressing - once a month, alternating full mineral fertilizer with slurry. Budding is done in the second half of summer with a sleeping eye.

Plants propagated by seeds begin to bloom at 6 - 8 years, and grafted - at 3 - 4 years. Avocados are cross-pollinated plants, and their harvest largely depends on the activity of bees and other insects. There are varieties in which the fruit appears as a result of self-pollination and parthenocarpy. The selection of varieties from different groups can provide fruits throughout the year.

It is better not to propagate avocado cuttings, as they do not root well.

Avocados can be grown from fruits. Indoors, avocados not only do not bear fruit, but also do not bloom. The shrub itself with a long, slightly leafy stem is not very decorative. The situation can only be corrected if the avocado grows in a large dish to large sizes, or another option is to pinch the top for more branching.