More and more often in the list of purchases of Russians you can see avocados. The benefits and harms of this fetus for the body are not fully understood. Scientists tirelessly conduct research and make more and more discoveries. We offer you to learn about the unusual properties of this wonderful fruit.
Still, avocado is a fruit
For many, the fruit must be certainly sweet and juicy. Avocados are more like vegetables and taste and chemical composition. It is also confusing that in some supermarkets it lies next to cucumbers, and in others to apples.
In fact, there are fruits in the definition of which even scientists are confused. For example, tomatoes, eggplant and cucumbers. But this does not apply to avocados. The answer to the question, is it a fruit or vegetable, unequivocal.
Avocado is a fruit. It grows on an evergreen fruit tree with the marvelous name Perseus (on behalf of the ancient Greek mythological hero). The fruit contains a stone with which the tree propagates. Just like other fruits.
Hero of prints and fiery songs
Many people know avocados from funny images on T-shirts and a song that sounded a couple of years ago on every corner: "Avo-avocado, avo-avocado - this is only between you and me ..."
But what really is a mysterious fruit?
- View. It resembles a large pear with a huge bone inside. The avocado peel is dense, green, often bumpy. A kind of mixture of pears and crocodile. The fruit is called - "alligator pear." If cut, you can find the flesh of an oily consistency of a delicate yellow-green color.
- Taste. You won’t confuse an avocado with anything. It contains a lot of fat. Its taste can be compared to a sweet butter mixed with mashed greens. In some varieties, notes of walnut, pear, mushrooms, sausages, yogurt, processed cheese are clearly audible. And if the fruit is immature, then its flesh is bitter.
- Smell. The aroma of fresh avocado is subtle, unsweetened, exotic oily-nutty.
Few people know that these fruits are very ancient. They were grown by the Aztecs and were called auacatl, which means "forest oil."
Why is avocado so healthy?
Nutritionists recommend avocados for weight loss, traditional healers - for constipation, doctors - to lower blood cholesterol. It contains a record amount of healthy fatty acids, oils, vitamins and antioxidants.
In 1998, avocados were listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most nutritious fruit.
100 g of pulp contains only 1 g of sugar and a very large amount of B, C, E, K, D vitamins, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, monounsaturated fats, potassium, copper, magnesium, antioxidants.
Why is avocado useful?
- Positive effect on the work of the heart.
- Increases stress tolerance.
- Normalizes pressure.
- Lowers blood cholesterol.
- Promotes weight loss.
- Improves concentration and memory.
- Normalizes the digestive tract and eliminates constipation.
- Protects cells from aging, has anti-aging properties.
The fruit is recommended to be included in the diet for vegetarians, people with diseases of the cardiovascular system and diabetics. In type 2 diabetes, it helps maintain blood glucose levels and improves the lipid profile.
To help losing weight
Having tried the fatty flesh, many come to the conclusion that an exotic fruit is not suitable for dietary nutrition. Indeed, if you look at how many calories are in an avocado, you can be horrified - as many as 160 kcal per 100 g of pulp. For comparison, in high-calorie potatoes and bananas - 77 and 89 kcal, respectively.
Despite the high fat content, avocado fruits are dietary. The fact is that all the fats in them are healthy and do not contain cholesterol. And also:
- hearty fruits;
- may replace mayonnaise in salads;
- reduce nervousness when dieting.
Benefits to the reproductive system
Avocados are recommended to be included in the diet for couples who plan to conceive a child, and simply if they wish to establish a sexual life. Its use as an aphrodisiac was described back in the 16th century. The Indians used fruits to increase sexual desire and quick birth.
Beneficial features:
- The fruit pulp contains a lot of folic acid, which is especially important for women during pregnancy.
- Vitamin E is necessary for the proper functioning of the sex glands and the production of hormones.
- Avocados reduce the risk of cervical dysplasia.
- In men, the fruit increases the amount of ejaculate and increases the number of active sperm.
- The fruit evokes sexual fantasies and sex drive.
Green pill youth and beauty
Avocados contain vitamin E, which improves the production of collagen and elastin. If you regularly eat it, your hair will be shiny, your skin will be healthy, your nails will be strong, and your face will be wrinkled-free.
You can apply the fruit not only inside but also externally. Women make masks from it to moisturize the skin and eliminate brittle hair. Avocado relieves inflammation and irritation, so it is used to treat acne.
Harm
Avocados can be harmful:
- when consumed in large quantities;
- in the presence of serious illnesses and allergies;
- when eating fruit with a bone and peel.
The peel, bone and leaves of the avocado contain the poisonous substance Persin. In humans, this toxin causes poisoning, and in animals and birds - death.
Nutritionists advise introducing fruit into the diet gradually. Its composition is quite specific. An allergic reaction, diarrhea, heaviness in the stomach, and nausea are possible.
Remember: you can’t eat bone and peel.
Types of Avocados
There are about 400 varieties of avocados. Fruits are grown in their historic homeland in Mexico, as well as in the USA, Israel, Indonesia and other countries with tropical and subtropical climates. By the way, the Mexican “avocado business” is considered very profitable. Its profitability is as high as the drug trade.
Despite the variety of varieties, in Russian supermarkets you can often find 3 types of avocados:
- Hass (haas is the wrong name). The most common variety in the world. More than 85% of all grown avocados belong to this variety. The peel of the fruit is pimply, dark, the flesh has a greenish tint. Hass is a moderately oily variety with a rich palette of flavors.
- Dominican. It rarely gets to Russian regiments. If you managed to meet him - take it without hesitation. It has a large size. The peel of the fruit is green, pimply, and the flesh is sweet.
- Israeli. Less delicious than African and Dominican varieties. Most often, Israeli avocados have a smooth and thin peel that breaks easily. Low-fat flesh. It is best to eat it in salads or bake.
The best and most unusual varieties:
- Ryan is a very fatty type with yellow flesh with the taste of mashed potatoes.
- Oettinger is super tasty with low fat content. It becomes even tastier when it lies down. The taste of the pulp may resemble fried mushrooms, processed cheese, nuts, yogurt, sausages.
- Pinkerton - has a very small bone. Especially tasty and fat African fruits, while Israeli ones, on the contrary, are low-fat and resemble carrots to taste.
- Pura Vida - has the shape of a bottle gourd. The fruits are very large and can weigh up to 1.3 kg.
- Fuerte - considered the most delicious. The smooth-skinned fruit has a pleasant sweet creamy taste.
- Bacon is the most non-greasy and watery variety. The skin of miniature fruits is light green, as is the flesh.
- Reed - spherical fruits with the same round bone. The flesh resembles a mixture of pear and nuts.
- Zutano is one of the best varieties. Pear-shaped fruits, with a thin and smooth green skin. The pulp is oily, tasty, snow-white or creamy, tastes like an apple.
- Meksikola - dark purple or black avocados weighing up to 100 g.
- Semil-34 is an elite variety. The fruits are juicy, with a fruity taste, which, as it ripens, becomes oily-nutty.
- Royal black is an elite variety. It differs in richly black skin and yellow flesh.
In the summer months ripen: Fuerte, Bacon, fatty varieties Pinkerton, Reed.
In the winter season you can buy: Hass, Zutano, Ryan, Ettinger, non-greasy grade Pinkerton.
Eat avocado
Mexicans eat avocados almost every day. Here it is as common as potatoes in Belarus. To get the maximum benefit, it is eaten raw. Also, the fruit is part of traditional Mexican dishes (guacamole and others).
Before eating or cooking, clean the avocado:
- Cut the fruit lengthwise into two halves without cutting a stone.
- Remove and discard the bone.
- Pry the pulp out with a tablespoon and place it on a plate.
How to eat raw avocados:
- With a spoon. Sprinkle the sliced fruit with lemon juice or 1% vinegar. Eat the pulp, picking it with a spoon directly from the peel.
- With toast or cracker. Crush the flesh with a fork. Salt, pepper, drizzle with lemon juice and spread like butter.
Lemon juice prevents avocado pulp from darkening.
Cooking Avocados
Usually avocados are used to make:
- salads;
- sushi and rolls;
- appetizers;
- guacamole sauce.
Oily flesh goes well with fish and seafood, eggs, ham, chicken, citrus.
Simple and delicious recipes:
- Sandwiches. Spread the flesh of avocado on bread. Put a thin slice of salmon on top. Garnish with greens.
- Salad. Boil 300 g of shrimp. Dice 1 peeled avocado and 300 g canned pineapple. Mix, sprinkle with chopped herbs. Season with yogurt.
- Snack. Grind the pulp of 1 fruit, 200 g of cottage cheese or feta cheese, greens in a blender. Spread on toasts.
- Quick breakfast. Cut the avocado in half, get a stone and slightly increase the recess. Break into each half 2 quail eggs. Bake in a preheated oven to 200 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Guacamole sauce. Grind in a blender (rough): peeled avocado, small onion, half of bell pepper, small chili, tomato, a quarter of lemon without a peel. Salt and add 1-2 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil. Serve with corn tortillas or steaks.
Who is the ripest here?
Very often, people do not understand the taste of avocados, because they try an unsuccessful fruit for the first time. On the shelves of shops, he often gets immature: hard, bland, with an unpleasant bitterness. The other extreme is an overripe fruit with a very oily mashed pulp.
How to choose a ripe and tasty avocado?
- Squeeze the fruit in your hand. It should be soft, but resilient, like an inflated rubber ball.
- Shake it near your ear. Ripe fruit will respond with a barely audible thud of a bone.
- Inspect the peel. It should be flat, without dimples, cracks and darkened areas.
- Pay attention to the top of the fetus. If the neck is visible instead of a simple rounding, then the fruit ripened on the tree and will be especially tasty.
It’s better to buy a hard avocado than a soft and overripe one.
2 ways to ripen avocados
The advantage of the fruit is that it ripens even after it has been picked from a tree.
What to do with hard avocados?
- Put the fruit in a plastic bag with an apple or banana. Tie and leave for a day on the table. The feature of this method is that apples and bananas emit ethylene gas, which contributes to the rapid maturation of everything that is nearby.
- Wrap avocado in craft paper and place in a cool dark place. After 2-3 days, it will become fit for human consumption.
How many avocados can I eat per day?
No more than one fruit per day. This norm cannot be exceeded, otherwise there will be problems with weight gain, nausea, heaviness in the iliac region, diarrhea will torment. Nutritionists recommend that you completely limit yourself to two avocados a week in summer and three in winter.
Who is contraindicated to eat avocados?
Nursing women (fraught with diarrhea in an infant), people with acute diseases of the liver and gall bladder.
How to store avocados?
Hard fruit deteriorates in the refrigerator. It is stored in a basket on the table until it ripens. Ripe fruits are refrigerated in a paper bag. Here they can be stored up to 5 days. You can freeze the flesh of an avocado by sprinkling with lemon juice.
Although avocados are more than 20,000 years old, in Russia it has become popular only in recent years. To this day, many green fruits, similar to large unripe pears, do not inspire confidence. It is worth recognizing that the taste of oily flesh is specific. To appreciate the avocado, you need to choose the right fruit. Some people like it exclusively in salads and rolls. In any case, eating it is very helpful. Varieties, which are characterized by a high fat content, replace meat and eggs. Avocado is a very valuable product for vegetarians and anyone who adheres to a healthy diet.