Whether you call it the Fertility Fruit, Alligator Pear, Butter Fruit or Avocado, by any name in today’s world it’s considered by many to be the healthy fruit. Avocados are rich in nutrients and healthy fats. One-third of a medium avocado has 80 calories and contributes nearly 20 vitamins and minerals. It’s virtually the only fruit that contains monounsaturated fat—the good fat.
Researchers believe Puebla, Mexico, to be the motherland of the avocado, where it first flourished nearly 10,000 years ago. Five thousand years later, it is believed the Mesoamerican tribes domesticated the avocado tree, making the cultivation of avocados as old as the invention of the wheel.
The fruit eventually made its way across the Atlantic when Spanish explorers, who were the first pioneers to eat avocados, were introduced to it in the 16th century. They named the fruit aquacate, a corruption of ahuacatl. Before being brought to Europe the avocado had spread through Central America...