AVOCADO PEAR, the fruit of the tree Persea gratissirna (family Lauraceae), which grows in the West Indies and else where ; the flesh is of a soft and buttery consistency and highly esteemed. The name avocado, the Spanish for "advocate," is a sound-substitute for the Aztec ahuacatl; it is also corrupted into "alligator-pear." Avocato, avigato, abbogada are variants.
The avocado pears seem first to have attracted public attention through the book of Martin Fernandez de Encisco, published in 1519, in which he reports their abundance in Santa Marta, Colom bia, from which spot they are still shipped to-day. First in troduced into the United States in 1833 by Judge Perrine, when he had some trees sent to his home in Florida from Mexico, it was not until 1910 that interest in them was aroused commercially. Since that time they have become an important fruit product ; the crop in California and Florida in 1938 was estimated at 11,020 tons. Ordinarily they are highly profitable to the grower.
Varying in size from no larger than an olive to more than three pounds in weight ; in shape from round to bottle—necked; in colour from light, yellowish-green to purplish-black and in skin texture from thin and membranous to a shell-like covering a quarter of an inch in thickness, this salad fruit is grown in South America, the West Indies, Porto Rico, Mexico, Florida and California. Thriv ing on a great variety of soils, from a very light sand to heavy black adobe, it seems to do best on the medium-textured ones. The climatic requirements for the avocado are in general the same as those for the citrus fruits, the Mexican type attaining its best growth under orange-growing conditions, while the more ten der Guatemalan race is best suited to lemon-producing districts. Thus it happens that the Mexican avocado is best adapted to the United States. While there is wide variation in yields of seedling and budded trees, individuals of both Guatemalan and Mexican types have produced as many as 3,00o fruits in a single season.
Inside the tough outer shell of the avocado is a yellowish-green flesh surrounding a large seed. This is the edible portion which has a flavour more like that of nut meat than a pear. In Guate mala where meat is scarce, the avocado is eaten as the main dish of a meal. On American tables it is sometimes thinly sliced and served as a salad with Russian dressing or it may be eaten as a fruit from the shell with a spoon.
The avocado contains more protein and more dry matter than any other fresh fruit. It has also a high mineral protein content. Combining "fruit prin ciples" with a high percentage of oil or fat, it is a natural laxative of exceptional merit. Although served chiefly as a salad, this "natural mayonnaise" is delicious in soup, as a cocktail, on toast, as sandwich filler or even made up into ice cream or other dishes.
The term "avocado" is replacing "alligator pear" since the former is nearer to the Aztec ahuacatl.