Avocado is an essential ingredient in many healthy nutritional dishes, a source of nutritional proteins and vitamins. Dishes made from it are ideal for people who go in for sports, dream of losing weight, as well as for children. The light, unobtrusive taste of avocado allows it to be used in almost any dish.
Avocado came to us from distant Mexico. The fruit is an oval elongated avocado 5-20 cm in length, reminiscent of a pear. Avocado is correctly classified as a fruit, but in terms of taste, it looks more like a vegetable. The avocado tree can grow up to 18 m in height.
How to choose
The choice of avocado must be approached carefully, because unripe fruit may be practically unsuitable for consumption. Unripe avocado is very hard, has a smooth, bright green skin and salad-colored flesh. A ripe fruit may not seem the most attractive to look at. It is dark green, slightly wrinkled, the flesh becomes yellowish. In the supermarket, picking up an avocado is not difficult, you just need to press on the peel - it should slip under your fingers. However, dents should not remain on the fruit after pressing; if the fruit is no longer firm, it may be spoiled.
An unripe avocado is rock-hard. It will be impossible to cut it, because the bone is firmly attached to the pulp. By the way, this is another method of recognizing ripe fruit in the store. Just bring it to your ear and shake it; in a ripe avocado, the bone may already be so detached from the pulp that it will knock inside. It's okay if you've already purchased an unripe avocado. It just needs to be left to ripen at room temperature for several days.
The benefits of avocado
Avocados are rich in many trace elements, minerals and vitamins. Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, B vitamins, a large dose of vitamin E, vitamins A and C. Eating avocados has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, freeing blood vessels from cholesterol (oleic acid in avocados prevents plaque formation). Vitamin B2, found in avocados, helps prevent anemia.
Even before the spread of avocados around the world, Mexicans actively used it as an aphrodisiac. Indeed, it is believed that avocados can lead to increased potency. Vitamin E in the composition has a positive effect on the condition of the skin, hair and inhibits the aging process. Also, avocado is good for the intestines and normalizes stool.
How to peel and slice an avocado
Avocado is a fruit unusual for our latitude, so not everyone knows how to properly peel and cut it. Ripe avocados are easy to cut. Wash the fruit and take a sharp knife. Cut the flesh along the circumference of the fruit (lengthwise). When you get to the bone, do not try to cut through it. Now grab the avocado halves with both hands and try twisting them slightly around the pit. One of the halves will come off the stone quite easily if the fruit is ripe. Then just pull the bone out of the other half. Next, you can separate the pulp from the peel with a spoon, gradually scraping it out, and mash it with a fork. Or take a peeler and peel, and cut the fruit, for example, into cubes.
How to eat an avocado
Due to the lack of pronounced taste and aroma, avocados can be used in desserts and salads. After grinding the avocado with a blender, you can spread the resulting puree on bread or bread with the addition of spices and red fish. Sprinkled with lemon juice or olive oil, the avocado can be eaten without anything. If you like unexpected combinations, you can try pouring condensed milk over slices of avocado for an unusual dessert. And yet, most often avocado is added to various kinds of salads, it is combined with absolutely any ingredient. However, it is more suitable for light salads with a minimum of ingredients and a dressing with vegetable oil rather than mayonnaise.
Energy value of avocado
On average, 100 g of avocado contains 2.2 g of protein, 16.89 g of fat and 5, 99 g of carbohydrates. Calorie content - 183, 93 kcal. One serving of avocado contains 3 g of monounsaturated and 0.5 g of polyunsaturated fat. Vegetable fat is beneficial because it does not contain cholesterol. Lowering cholesterol translates into increased training efficiency and proper weight loss, despite the high calorie content of avocados.
