Avocados have long been considered a perfect food. If the avocado were newly discovered today, it would be marketed as a miracle food.
Irresistibly flavorful with a smooth, creamy texture, avocados should be part of everyone’s daily diet.
Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, avocado trees thrive in sub-tropical and tropical climates around the world. Avocados have a deep green-skinned, fleshy body that ripens to a deep, purplish-green after harvesting.
室内装饰牛油果树很容易在厨房窗台上的一杯水里发芽。培育一个能够持续结出坚实、美味果实的牛油果果园则更具挑战性。牛油果树不能长出真正的类型,所以从新鲜市场购买的美味球体的种子可能会也可能不会结出类似的果实。Read on to learn more about how to grow avocados on your homestead.
Where and When to Grow Avocados
Avocado plant orchards should be established from transplanted seedlings. It’s best to select preferred varieties grafted onto healthy rootstock that are adaptable to your local climate, soil, and growing conditions. Avocados do well in United States Plant Hardiness Zones 9 through 11.
The best time to plant avocado plants outdoors is between early March and late June. Planting in the spring allows the roots to have adequate time to acclimate to new growing conditions before the intense heat of summer arrives.
Planting Avocado Trees
Grafted avocado trees are available for purchase online or from local nurseries and garden centers. Keep in mind that it takes at least five years before your trees will produce fruit. If you are going to invest the time and effort required to establish a profitable avocado orchard, it is wise to start with the best available varieties purchased from a reputable grower.
当它们从种子开始生长时,鳄梨树需要温暖的气候、充足的阳光和排水良好的土壤。太空树间隔50到75英尺。成熟的牛油果树有一个宽阔的树冠,通常和树的高度一样宽。种植牛油果树时,要给它们足够的生长空间。Avoid planting near buildings, overhead utility lines, cesspools, septic tanks, underground utilities, fences, or property lines.
Depending on the variety, evergreen avocado trees can grow anywhere from 50 to 75 feet tall. A mature avocado tree will produce a bountiful crop of individual fruits weighing from a few ounces to more than 4 pounds.
Start an avocado tree by planting 4 to 6 inches deep in organic soil free of pesticides and herbicides. Make sure the avocado seedling receives plenty of water, and you will soon have a tree that will feed generations far into the future.
Within 5 to 7 years, you can expect your avocado tree to produce between 200 and 300 individual fruits each season. Mature avocado trees tend to do best in alternate years. One year the harvest will be sparse, the next year abundant.
Growing Avocados From a Pit
If you reside in a northern climate, you can still grow an avocado pit in a sunny window or greenhouse. Poke three wooden toothpicks into the side of an avocado pit in a triangular pattern around the middle.
把牙签放在一个小水杯的中央。把杯子装满水,直到坑的底部淹没。放置在一个阳光充足的地方,保持水位,直到种子发芽,产生大量的细白色的根。
Once roots are evident, plant the rooted avocado seed in a 5-gallon pot with good soil drainage. Avocado trees grown indoors will not bear fruit, but they make an attractive, conversation-provoking houseplant.
Related Post:Low-Light Plants
Check out the video below for a step by step process for how to grow an avocado plant from a pit.
How to Eat Avocados
Avocados are at their most flavorful and ready for consumption when somewhat soft and ripe. Avocados fail to ripen on the tree. They only ripen after harvest, or when they fall from the tree. Avocados can be picked as needed and allowed to mature at room temperature in a sunny spot.
Accelerate the ripening process by placing avocados in a brown paper bag or in proximity to ripening bananas or apples. Gases these other fruits produce when ripening will quickly soften your avocados.
Related Post:How to Store Apples
小心地削牛油果的皮,以保存其营养丰富的特性。研究表明,类胡萝卜素、矿物质和维生素最富集的地方就在绿色或深棕色的皮肤下面。
You do not want to remove the nutrient dense green flesh just under the leathery skin. The right way to peel an avocado is to cut it lengthwise, and then twist the two halves to separate. Remove the pit and cut the avocado halves into slices. Peel off the skin as you would a banana.
Allow the remaining fruit to hang on the tree until you are ready to use it. Choose fruits that are free of marks, dents, or indications of bruising. Avocados should be firm, yet yield to gentle pressure. Firm avocados are best for slicing and adding to salads and sandwiches. Soft, overly ripened avocados are perfect for sauces, dips, desserts, and drinks.
Nutritional Value
A buttery green fruit, the luscious avocado (Persea americana) is ranked by dietary experts as a superfood. Unfortunately, avocados have earned an unfavorable reputation as being high in fat.
Anaverage avocado含有240卡路里和24克脂肪。尽管牛油果中90%的热量来自脂肪,但它被认为是有益于心脏健康的脂肪。牛油果营养丰富,单不饱和脂肪含量高(每份3克)。
A few other nutritional benefits of avocados:
- Avocados are sodium-free.
- Anaverage avocadoprovides a source of protein, potassium, iron, phosphorous, calcium, and niacin.
- One serving, or a third of an avocado, provides 4 milligrams vitamin C or 4 percent of the recommended daily allowance.
- High in fiber, nutrient dense avocados are a rich source of B vitamins.
- Avocados are an excellent source of vitamins E, A, D, and K.
- Asingle avocadocontains up to 9 grams of fiber and 20 essential ingredients (including copper and iron) required for optimum health and well-being. It’s a fact, ounce for ounce, avocados offer more than 35 percentmore potassium than bananas.
- Avocados contain a broad array of carotenoids.
- Antioxidant-rich avocadoshelp prevent cardiovascular disease, lower cholesterol, and help reduce high blood pressure levels.
Other Uses for Avocado
First Food for Baby
Excellent first foods for babies, avocados are soft, palatable, and easily digested. Sweeten mashed avocados with a few drops of organic honey to supplement the diet of infants.
When toddlers are ready for “finger foods,” cut avocados into small chunks. Children love the bright color and creamy consistency of avocados. Keep in mind, though, that honey should only be given tochildren over the age of 1.
Skin and Hair Care
Applying the expressed oil of the avocado seed directly to the skin keeps the skin supple and moist, and helps rough red skin, eczemas, and psoriasis patches to heal faster. Avocado oil, prized for its ease of absorption and healing properties, is an excellent sunscreen and windburn protection.
Apply avocado oil to soothe chapped lips. Avocado oil, massaged into the scalp daily, stimulates hair growth. In the Caribbean, talc made by finely grinding the dried pit of the avocado is used to treat dandruff.
Healing Avocado Face Mask
将一个成熟的鳄梨果肉、两勺蜂蜜和两勺燕麦片捣碎,涂抹在脸上,就可以制作出一种天然的、治愈性的面膜了。
Allow the creamy mixture to rest on the face for 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse off the paste with lukewarm water.
The masticated flesh of the avocado is also a soothing shave cream. Some cultures chew avocado seed to reduce toothache pain or chew on the skin of the fruit to relieve dysentery and ward off internal parasites.
Steep the pit for 15 minutes in a small pot of boiling water. Cool the liquid and use as a poultice for sprains, muscle aches, and bruises.
References
- California Avocado Commission
- The Role of Avocados in Complementary and Transitional Feeding, U.S. National Library Of Medicine
- Avocados May Help Prevent Oral Cancer, The Ohio State University
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