Avocados are green and savory, so surely, they’re vegetables…right? Could Avocados actually be fruits?
The Short Answer:
Yes, Avocados are fruits.
The Long Answer:
As we reminded you in our first ever post, not all fruits are sweet. And conversely, not all vegetables are savory. Take the Avocado for instance. This fatty fleshy green-colored food is a favorite in everything from salads to guacamole. It is beloved by junk food enthusiasts and healthy eaters alike. It is the savior of the keto diet.
It’s also a fruit.
Not just a fruit. It’s technically a berry. Specifically, a single-seeded berry.
How can this be, you ask? Well to find that out we have to determine what makes a fruit. All fruits come from the fertilized ovary of a flower. They consist of a skin or rind, which is the tough outer layer, the fleshy middle layer which is typically what we eat, and it contains the seeds of the plant it was born from.
To further classify an avocado, it is considered to be a fleshy fruit as opposed to a dry fruit. The fleshy pulp and signature seed are what classify this fruit as a member of the berry family.
When comparing avocados to other fruits it’s interesting to note that this is one of the very few high protein fruits. One avocado has four grams of protein in it, which is one of the highest in the entire fruit world. Avocados also ripen faster when placed in a bag with bananas or apples. That’s because those fruits release ethylene gas which helps young avocados mature faster.
Speaking of bananas, they’re highly regarded as an excellent source of potassium, but it may better you to know that one avocado has nearly twice the potassium content of a banana.
Do you eat avocados? What’s your favorite guacamole recipe? Comment below and let us know!
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