© Courtesy of California Avocado Commission.

10. The avocado once had a well-entrenched reputation for inducing sexual prowess. Avocados were not bought or eaten by any person wanting to keep their good name.
9. Fallbrook, California is the Avocado Capital of the World.
8. September 16th is National Guacamole Day.
7. The annual California Avocado Festival attracts 100,000 visitors to southern California every October.
6. Avocado is the only fruit color to define a generation.
5. The most common recipe for the avocado is some type of guacamole. During Super Bowl Sunday, in the US, about 50 million pounds of avocados are consumed.
4. All Hass avocados trees are grafted from one original Hass discovered by Rudolph Hass in the early 20th century.
3. Avocado calories have the highest protein content of any fruit.
2. The avocado tree is used as a warehouse; avocados can be kept on the tree for months after reaching maturity. They only soften when picked.
1. Avocados are a nutrient booster – Avocados act as a “nutrient booster” by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene as well as lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

Absolutely Avocado – “Take your taste buds beyond the ordinary with more than 50 recipes featuring the buttery smoothness of this favorite fruit. Soothe your palate with the delicate flavors of Avocado Crab Puffs. Warm up a cold winter’s night with Avocado and Almond Soup or impress your friends with your zesty Guacamole with Attitude. 24 color photos.”

Guac Off! – A humorous look at the avocado while presenting irresistible recipes. Every review has given it 5 out of 5 stars! “With 30 recipes for classic exotic and extreme guacamoles there is a guac to suit every occasion from the green chile-enhanced Brooktown Classic to the ultra-spicy Scarface Guac.”

Avocado varieties, known to botanists as “cultivars,” are created by grafting branches from an original “mother tree” onto rootstock. The seeds from a given tree will not produce trees with fruit of the same quality and characteristics.

Avocados from different varieties vary in overall size, while avocados are long and skinny, others are much more round. Different varieties also ripen at different times of the year so we can enjoy avocados year round. Skin color also varies – from a somewhat smooth green skin to a very rough, bumpy dark green/black.

Hass avocados are probably the best known here in the US – it produces fruit all year long and accounts for over 80 percent of the worldwide commercial product and over 95% of what is grown in California.

© Courtesy of California Avocado Commission.

Other named varieties include Anaheim, Bacon, Creamhart, Duke, Fuerte, Ganter, Gwen, Hass, Jim, Lula, Lyon, Mexicola, Mexicola Grande, Murrieta Green, Nabal, Pinkerton, Queen, Puebla, Reed, Rincon, Ryan, Spinks, Topa Topa, Whitsell, Wurtz, Zutano. Over 1000 named varieties are known, but only a small number are grown commercially.

Here is a brief primer at Gardenweb.com with questions and answers. They say it takes between 3 and 4 years before a tree will “begin setting fruit.” Note that the growers at the Avocado Growers Association suggest it could take much longer.

Buy a 5-year old avocado tree from Clifton’s Nursery for $69 at Amazon.com. According to avocado.org, it takes 7 to 15 years for an avocado tree to begin producing fruit. We found Zutano and Bacon varieties.

The Avocado Growers Association has the best concise directions for growing an avocado from seed.

Finally, a discussion with video of one person’s experiments with growing avocados from seed.

Avocado.org has almost 200 videos, many are discussions with growers or watch this video on cutting an avocado.

Americans have become used to eating the more tender and more expensive cuts of meat. Eating the “whole animal” may seem like a trend, but it’s actually the oldest and most cost-effective way to eat.

To save money, buy cheaper cuts of meat, rather than lower-quality meat. Make soups, stews and pasta sauces, because they stretch meat out to more portions.

Start with chicken. Cooks tend to prefer dark meat over white meat because it’s far more flavorful. Don’t take off the skin (or if you do, don’t tell me). The added fat and flavor from the skin make the meat more flavorful. Cut empty calories from your diet rather than fat from natural sources. Legs and thighs can be roasted or braised, and they’re much less expensive than chicken breasts.

Cheaper cuts of beef, lamb and pork are usually the tougher cuts. These types of meat are superior in flavor to more tender cuts – they just take a little more work and a lot more patience.

Treat meat like a flavoring ingredient rather than the focus of the plate. Use smoked or cured meats like bacon, ham hock or guanciale (cured, unsmoked pig jowl or cheek) in soups or as the base of otherwise vegetarian dishes. Think of it as “vegetarian plus.”

Offal, which used to be part of every cook’s repertoire, has been making a comeback in restaurants, but not as much in home kitchens. Chicken and calves’ livers are good places to start.

Even seafood has cheaper options. Octopus (if you can find it) and squid are a bit challenging to cook, but when prepared correctly they are delicious. Cleaning mussels is an onerous task (that’s why restaurants may seem to charge a lot for them), but they’re relatively inexpensive and very easy to prepare once they’re clean. Read the rest of the tips