Avocados seem to be a little like marmite, you either love them, or hate them, thinking they are either delicious or they are horrible and slimy.
For those of you who don’t know what guacamole is, it is an avocado-based dip that has its origins with Aztec people.
Already used liberally in Mexican cuisine, it has also become popular throughout the world, as a dip, condiment and salad ingredient. Avocado is a superfood and has other benefits too which means it is often seen in skincare products too.
Five Health benefits of Avocados
- Half of an average-sized avocado has 4.6 grams of fibre, the most of any fruit.
- An avocado has more potassium than a banana. They also contain other useful minerals, including iron and copper.
- Avocados are high in fat, with 60% of this being monounsaturated fats, which research suggests, helps protect against heart disease and lowers blood pressure.
- They are an excellent source of vitamin E, and a good source of folate.
- Eating avocados helps keep your immune system healthy. It is an antioxidant.
Nine Interesting facts about Avocados:
- Avocados are a fruit, therefore, technically, guacamole is a smashed fruit salad!
- Avocados are in the same family as cinnamon.
- They are the fruit with the highest protein content, on average, four grams per fruit.
- Its original name was Alligator Pear.
- From 1914 to 1997, Hass Avocados (which come from Mexico), were banned in the USA, in an effort to control pest problems. The USA also grows avocados in southern California and southern Florida.
- The world record for creating guacamole was over 3 tons. Created by a wholesaler in Jalisco, Mexico, it took more than 800 people to make it, and contained more than 25,000 avocados, 3,500 tomatoes and 3,000 lemons. We wonder how many people ate it? Or what they did with it all?!
- Although Mexico is the world’s largest producer of avocados, here in the UK we rely on imports from Peru, South Africa, Chile, Israel and Spain.
- In 2018, 96.7 million kilos of avocados were consumed in the UK.
- In the summer of 2017, more than 3,000,000 photos of avocado toast were uploaded to Instagram every day.
How we use avocado at Creative Nature….
We love avocados because they are gluten and dairy-free, vegan and cholesterol-free, and they fit in with our philosophy of being allergen-free.
Avocados are great to add to smoothies, used in exactly the same way you’d use bananas.
They can also be used in place of butter, which many vegan bakers do, to add moistness to cupcakes, cakes and other baked goods.
Not only can they be eaten, but they are also perfect for making facemasks. Mashed avocado has long been used for skincare but why not try something a little different.
Add some of our Spirulina Pacifica super powder to the avocado for a super face mask.
Some avocado recipes:
Green St Patricks Day Smoothie bowl
You don’t have to wait for St Patrick’s Day to eat this delicious smoothie bowl.
The ingredients include an avocado, half a banana, a handful of spinach and kale, apple, mango, plant milk and a teaspoon of our Barley Grass powder.
Superfood Avocado Toast
This is one of the favourite ways of eating avocados, as can be seen by the number of images posted to Instagram. Our twist is to add some shelled hemp seeds.
We would love you to share some of your recipes with us, where you have added avocado to one of our baking mixes, or created your own smoothie, using one of our superfoods and avocado.