The Origin of Avocado

Avocados are the chief ingredient in "guacamole". The Aztec depended on the avocado as a staple in their diet and gave it a name based on the fact that its shape is similar to the male anatomy – ‘ahuacatl’ or ‘testicles.’

The fruit was early recorded in Mayan and Aztec picture writing from 290 BC.

It was first recorded in English in 1697. The English name of avocado, is a modification of the Spanish name, ‘aguacate’ or ‘ahuacate’ which derived from the word ‘ahuacatl’.

Avocados are also referred to as the Alligator Pear because of there shape and leathery skin.

Avocados are the fruit from a tall evergreen tree called the Persea Americana, there are many different varieties of avocado and they generally fit into three main categories, the West Indian, the Guatemalan and the Mexican which all differ in size and flavour.

Domestication and selection of this crop have gone on in Mexico for a period of 10,000 years. Ancestors of cultivated avocados were utilized as a food by hunter gatherer as early as 8000 BC.

The Spanish invaders reported finding avocados growing from northern Mexico though Central America and down into South America, where they had been cultivated since 8000 BC.

Avocado were then introduced to Jamaica sometime in the mid seventeenth century. When the English arrived in Jamaica, they called the avocado alligator pear.

They are not introduced to the United States until the early 20th century, when they were first planted in California and Florida.
The Origin of Avocado