Posted 30th July 2021
5 Facts for National Avocado Day
Are you an avocado fan? We LOVE avocados. In fact, we love them so much we named one of our bottles after them. Our Avocado Bottle is available in traditional 24 oz. and the Slim 20 oz. and is a favorite among athletes and hikers. In honor of our bottle's namesake, we want to spread the love for our favorite toast-topper with five fun facts for National Avocado Day.
1. The most avocados are produced in Mexico.
The most avocados are grown in Mexico, according to Statisa. Likely originating from the south-central region of the country, avocados grown in Mexico made up 32% of all the world’s avocados in 2019 (FAOSTAT of the United Nations).
2. Avocados are a fruit.
Don’t let the green trick you. Avocados are the fruit of an avocado tree. Botanically, they are large single-seeded berries according to W. B. Storey from the California Avocado Society. While they are not the first thing that comes to mind when we hear "berry", the botanists know best!
3. The Netherlands is the largest European importer of avocados.
The Netherlands imports the most avocados, according to The Netherlands Centre for the Promotion of Imports. Importing half of Europe’s avocados, the Netherlands functions as a trade hub, ripening the fruits before shipping them off to other places in Europe like France, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Scandinavian countries and many others.
4. Avocados are picked before they are ripe.
When cultivated commercially, avocados are picked when immature and are allowed to ripen after harvesting. You have probably done this too at grocery stores, picking a fruit that isn’t quite ready so you will have a snack later in the week.
5. Alligator Pear is another name for an avocado.
While it has fallen out of use, alligator pear was once commonly used to refer to the avocado. A fruit of many names, naturalist Sir Hans Sloane was the first to officially use the name we all know when he cataloged the tree in his book on plants of Jamaica in 1696 as the “Avocado or Alligator-Pear Tree”. It was still not the primary word for the fruit until the US Department of Agriculture pushed for the use of avocado instead of alligator pear, which it deemed to be an “ungraceful and generally objectionable” name (University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources).
"Let's move. It's time to guac n' roll."
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