The avocado is on everyone's lips and in the truest sense of the word. The fruit, which has been declared a real superfood, is repeatedly criticized.
Interesting facts about the avocado
The Aztecs already cultivated the fruit in South America. You called her at times ahuacatl, whereas in the English area they later got the name because of their warty skin
alligator pear, so "alligator pear" received. In Germany, the avocado was initially also called "butter fruit".To speak in general terms of THE avocado would not be entirely correct. There are over 400 varieties, with the largest of them weighing more than 2 kilos. However, due to the high demand and the resulting mass production, we mainly find two varieties on supermarket shelves in this country: Fuerte and hate. Avocados do not ripen on the tree, they only begin to do so after they have been harvested. To test whether an avocado is ripe, it should be picked up. If it gives way to light pressure, it can be consumed. In general, single, black spots are a sign that the fruit is overripe. The color of the skin is not necessarily a sign of its maturity, because the variety hate gets a black shell with increasing maturity, Fuerte-Fruits, on the other hand, remain green.
A few years ago still known as a rare luxury product, the avocado is now available nationwide all year round. In winter, for example, she comes from Brazil, Chile and Spain, in summer, however, from South Africa and Peru. For many people it has therefore become as natural as a potato. But that can be problematic for our environment, because the strong demand and rising prices make it extremely attractive for local farmers to grow avocado. The avocado boom in South America is leading to the illegal logging of forests to make way for fields. The increasing use of pesticides and chemical pesticides also pollutes the already valuable and rare drinking water in these countries. In addition, the avocado itself consumes enormous amounts of water anyway. While 1 kilogram of tomatoes requires around 180 liters of water on a global average, one kilogram of avocados (approx. 2 ½ avocados) up to 1,000 liters. The long transport routes also worsen their ecological balance. In addition, bumps make this fruit a lot, which is why it is only transported well padded and that in turn means more packaging material.
The avocado was already very popular before the world invented the word "superfood". The South Americans appreciate avocados in various ways; in Japan, for example, they are rolled into sushi. In Indonesia is Alpokat popular, a shake made from avocados, brown raw sugar and cocoa and in Taiwan and the Philippines a delicious dessert is made from avocados, milk and sugar. Some people just like to spoon it with salt and a squeeze of lemon or cover their bread with it. So if you are looking for inspiration to prepare your avocado, you will be overwhelmed with culinary and global diversity. This is perfectly fine as long as you are aware of the path the avocado has to travel to get to us. Enjoying them in moderation and preferably preferring organic quality can be a first step in the right direction. It is also best not to buy the avocados as "ripe" fruit, but rather still very hard. At home you can then simply let them ripen in newspaper. You can even accelerate this process very easily if you add an apple, which releases a so-called “ripening gas”. Thus, the avocado remains something special and is not eaten en masse. To perceive the superfruit again as a luxury or a delicacy helps our environment immensely.
