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Published Friday, March 27, 2020
A lowly fruit (or berry or
something) By Victoria Torley I am one of those people with a low opinion of the humble avocado. Just a personal opinion, but it seems flat, boring and tasteless to me. Not only that, but bite into an avocado and it just goes, “muuuush.” By contrast, bite into a Granny Smith apple and it goes, “CRUNCH.” Bite into a ripe Georgia peach, and the juice runs down your chin. Not the avocado. It just sits there. And it’s not just that. Ripe apples and peaches are bright and colorful. Want a ripe avocado? It’s a dull nearly black color. How is that supposed to be appetizing? Then there is the botanical confusion calling the avocado a ‘fruit’ when it is actually a berry with a large single seed. Berries are even more colorful than fruits, but there is the dull black avocado . . . To make matters worse, I live in ‘avocado’ – the village of Aguacate to be exact. Growing the avocado used to be a big business here, now there are only a couple of trees left. No one seems to know why. So why the rant about the avocado? I am having some avocado paste with my lunch (pauses to wipe fingers). But this isn’t just any avocado paste, this is a mix of mashed ‘berry’ with salsa, hot sauce and lemon, spread on crunchy corn crackers. Why? Read on. The avocado is filling and it is full of good things. Mono- and polyunsaturated fats for example. The kind of fats doctors recommend. Then there are vitamins A, B-1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9 plus vitamins C, E, and K. [Okay, I admit I had to look up vitamin B-9. As it turns out it is vital for the making DNA, RNA and amino acids – all required for cell division, repair and growth. You may have heard it called ‘folic acid’ or ‘foliate’ and it also lowers the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and even birth defects.] Going on with our list, there is vitamin E for vision, reproductive health, and healthy blood, blood, brain and skin – plus it is an antioxidant. Vitamin K aids in bone metabolism, blood clotting and maintaining blood calcium levels. All good stuff. Then we go on to minerals – calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. There is even a little bit of fluoride for our teeth. The negative? Because it is a fatty ‘berry,’ one-third of an avocado has 300 calories – that’s a lot in a small space. Anyway, here I am, licking the residue of avocado paste from my fingers. I feel better already! Plant
for the Week
 Out for a short walk and found plumed grass had sprung up unasked and uninvited. Still, plumed grasses can be lovely and I enjoyed watching this one wave in the breeze. I think I have it narrowed down to the Paspalum genus but the species eludes me. It must be easy to grow (I certainly didn’t encourage this one) and is currently enjoying full sun and local rains. The plume here is shown against a backdrop of vetiver (I planted the vetiver). ---------------------- More information on this article or about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com |
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