Avocado - the most nutritious fruit in the Guinness World Records

Author: Cui Yihui, registered dietitian

Reviewer: Wang Junbo, Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, Peking University Health Science Center

Every weekend, people get lazy and think about which delicious restaurant to go to for a meal. But now it is different. On weekends, I prefer to roll up my sleeves and go into the kitchen to make some delicious food. Salad is definitely the main character on many people's weekend tables, and avocado is one of the "royal" ingredients for salad. Avocado is also called alligator pear. Its flesh is soft like cheese, yellow in color, and has a unique flavor. It is known as "forest butter". To say that avocado is the most nutritious fruit in the world is not a random "award" by someone, but is recorded in the Guinness World Records.

Figure 1 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

1. Nutritional value

The protein content of avocado is higher than that of most fruits. Avocado is rich in fat, 80% of which is unsaturated fatty acids, including oleic acid, which is a monounsaturated fatty acid, and linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which are polyunsaturated fatty acids. These are all healthy fats.

Avocado is very suitable for vegetarians. Avocado also contains a variety of vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, etc.) and trace elements (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, etc.). Therefore, avocado is particularly suitable for women, especially pregnant women, as it has the effects of nourishing blood, whitening and anti-aging.

2. How to choose avocado

August to September every year is the ripening period for avocados. The avocados on the market during this period are the freshest and have the highest nutritional value. The skin of an unripe avocado is green, and it gradually matures during storage, and the skin color gradually turns black. However, it cannot turn completely black, as that would mean it is "overripe." You can directly distinguish the ripeness of an avocado by looking at the picture (Figure 2).

When buying avocados, it is best to choose the dark green one (the second one from the left in Figure 2 (beginning to ripen)), but when eating avocados, it is best to choose the one with a hint of green in black, which feels slightly soft and elastic when you gently pinch it with your hands. The higher the temperature of the environment where the avocado is placed, the faster it matures. If the avocado has been stored for a long time and has black aged fibers in the flesh, you can remove some of them and then eat the normal colored part. If it is all black fibers, it cannot be eaten.

Figure 2 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

3. How to cut an avocado?

Figure 3 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

4. How to eat avocado?

Direct consumption : After peeling and pitting the avocado and cutting it into small pieces, sprinkle a little sugar on it if you like sweet food, or a little salt and black pepper on it if you like salty food, and mix well. If you like the taste of soy sauce, you can also try pouring a little soy sauce on the avocado, with a little black pepper or mustard, which is also delicious.

Spread on bread slices : Cut the avocado in half, scoop it up with a small spoon, and spread it evenly on the bread slices as if it were jam. Add a little jam or honey and it will taste great.

To make the smoothie : Place avocado and yogurt in a blender and add a little honey to make an avocado smoothie that everyone will love.

For baby food supplement : For babies aged 6 months or above, you can cut the avocado, grind it into puree, and feed it directly to the baby. You can also add some banana or yogurt to grind it together to increase the taste. When you first try avocado, you need to eat a small amount. As the baby gets older, the amount of avocado the baby eats at one time can be gradually increased. Avocado is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which can promote the baby's brain development.

Make salad : Avocado, as an ingredient that provides healthy fat, can be paired with green leafy vegetables such as romaine lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, and a little colorful seasonal vegetables such as purple kale, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, corn kernels, and carbohydrates such as quinoa and chickpeas. This makes a healthy, filling, and low-energy salad!

Kind tips

Avocados should be eaten as soon as possible after being cut, and should not be stored for a long time. Avocados are high in fat and low in sugar. Although the fat they provide is healthy, from an energy perspective, they are still high in calories, so it is not advisable to eat too much without restraint. Each 100 g of avocado contains about 160 kcal of energy, which is three times that of an apple, so it is best for healthy adults to eat one avocado a day.