Foto copied from La Jornada, 10 febrero 2013. Photographer is Alejandro Pavón.
Avocadoes are my favorite fruit. I try to have a ripe one available every day. I like them really ripe, so that they are smushy when I squeeze them gently. Then I can spread them on tortillas or bread, whatever. I like sandwiches with smushed avocado, tomatoes, onions and sometimes a touch of something hot like hummus with chipotle, a Mexican hummua variant. Sometimes I put in some cold sliced chicken or maybe a piece of a fish filet. Also, smushy avocado is an excellent mayonnaise substitute. AND you can top off almost anything with a couple of slices.
One product that boomed in Mexico because of Nafta is avocadoes. In 15 years, the production has multiplied almost 200 times because of access to the US market where the taste for avocadoes has also been growing, in good part thanks to the presence of Mexican-Americans or Mexicans in the US who not only eat themselves but have awakened gringos to their voluptuous wonderfulness. Although the US has imported 83% of available avocadoes, they are not alone. Japan, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and China are starting to eat them. This is a link to an article in today's La Jornada with this and more avocado information.
The state of Michoacan is the number one producer of avocadoes and many people have been able to profit from them.
In our colonia, I know of three avocado trees. One is next door to our other house. It produces a small fruit and the leaves which are used to make polvo de aguacate, avocado powder, which is used in cooking beans, among other things. One is located in an alley up the street. That one produces tons of avocadoes which all rot on the ground. For some unknown reason, the tree's owner won't let anyone take them. The third is in front of our house. It has been "growing" for eight years, but has never managed to produce fruit. By now it should have given us a couple of harvests, but we don't spray it for pests of any kind. My philosophy as a gardener is basically if it can't survive on its own, then that's too bad. This tree has survived but not thrived.