Hass avocados are oval shaped with knobbly-textured purplish-black skin. The Hass variety of avocado is the most popular, accounting for 80% of all the avocados eaten worldwide. Consumers prefer its creamy, slightly nutty flavour. Retailers prefer its durability and longer shelf life.
Hass Avocados contain 11 of the 13 known vitamins. Eating half an avocado counts as one of your 5-a-day, and helps your body fight a range of diseases. Gram for gram an avocado contains almost twice the amount of cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated (or ‘good’) fat as salmon, as a result of having the same kind of healthy oil found in nuts and olive oil.
Avocados are versatile, easy to prepare and eat. For inspiration on some of the many ways of using Hass avocados, considering rediscovering Peruvian cookery.
Available from Chile from October to January
Also available from Peru from Mid May to September
Situated on the west coast of South America, Chile has the distinction of being the longest and narrowest country in the world: 2,600 miles long and a mere 100 miles wide.
Chilean Hass avocados are grown in orchards stretching from La Serena, 500km north of Santiago, to Peumo, 120km south of the capital city. Chile’s climate, soil and water, make the country a natural and reliable provider of high quality avocados in great quantities to the rest of the world.
Chilean Hass avocados are available in most British supermarkets from October to December.
To celebrate this year's Avocado Week, the Chilean Hass Avocado Association has organised an avocado blogging competition, with a cash prize for the best entry about avocados. There will be regular updates during the season on Twitter (@AvocadoBrother) and on the AvocadoBrother blog. Other activities centred around Avocado Week include a culinary tour by the Avocado Ambassador, who will visit chefs' colleges around the country, inspiring young chefs to use avocados in their cooking. Check out the website for the store promotions that will take place throughout this new avocado season. And look out for Avocado Man who will be out and about during the week!
