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A few years ago, my partner went to the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South SF on a whim. It wasn’t entirely clear if members of the public were welcome, but
by maddyboo 5y ago
A few years ago, my partner went to the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South SF on a whim. It wasn’t entirely clear if members of the public were welcome, but no one seemed to notice or care.
While perusing the stocks, my partner happened upon a smiling vendor with a big knife standing beside a pile of boxed avocados. He said, “You have to taste my avocados!” as he sliced open a petite dark green fruit. My partner accepted the cube offered on a toothpick and gingerly placed it onto his tongue. Upon closing his mouth, the cube seemed to spontaneously melt into one of the most buttery, savory, rich substances he had ever tasted. Needless to say, my partner brought home a big box of avocados that day.
I was skeptical when he first told me the story, but we quickly had a knife and spoons at the ready and were digging in to a ripe specimen. He wasn’t lying after all, this was among the best things I had ever tasted, similar to an excellent piece of salmon sashimi but… better. I confess to you that we ate that big box of avocados in a week or less, our intake only limited by the rate at which the fruit became ripe. We aren’t normally gluttonous people, but those were some amazing avocados.
We eat store bought avocados several times a week, but I unfortunately haven’t had a single one in the years since that was even a hundredth as delicious as those wonderful fruits. If anything, the flavor and quality seems to be on the decline. We often joke about sneaking back into the produce terminal to find avocado man and his delicious avocados. Maybe one of these days…
- wincy 5y agoJudging from their website it’s open to the public, so I don’t think you’ll need to “sneak in” next time.
- irrational 5y agoThough, that doesn't make for as good of a story.
- sebmellen 5y agoIf you ever find this fabled avocado man, please send him my way (email in profile).
- lotsofpulp 5y ago>We eat store bought avocados several times a week, but I unfortunately haven’t had a single one in the years since that was even a hundredth as delicious as those wonderful fruits. I find the quality of avocados (and pretty much everything else) varies by the season. As you get closer to California's season for avocados, they taste better and better. Once they have to travel further, they start being more hit or miss. I haven't tasted one as good as the ones I ate off the tree in Kenya. Although, almost everything there seemed to taste better.
- chiefalchemist 5y agoI reckon it could be related to weather as well. Like grapes. Of course, there's also the quality - or not - of the soil.
- Moru 5y agoThe biggest problem is most fruit is picked before it's ripe. It keeps longer on the ship and gets ripened with gas when it is unloaded at the destination. We pay lots of money to get fooled here in north europe.
- wil421 5y agoAvocados do not ripen on the tree. They need to be pulled off in order to ripen properly. You need to pick them at the right time so they have the right amount of oil content.
- dawnerd 5y agoTry to find some what they call “bacon avocados”. They’re really rich and creamy. Massive too. I’ve only seen them a few times in Southern California, Ojai in particular.
- hedora 5y agoIMO, They’re superior to Haas in every way except shippability. Their skins are thin, so the don’t survive the trip to most grocery stores. (This is probably why SF distributors were so keen to sell their special avocados direct.)
- danwills 5y agoWow, had never heard of them! I found this that ships carefully packed boxes of unripe ones (within US only, so no good for me.. but maybe someone in the US might like to try this?): https://mimiavocado.com/2014/11/does-bacon-avocado-taste-like-bacon/ https://mimiavocado.com/2014/11/does-bacon-avocado-taste-lik...
- dawnerd 5y agoFYI every avocado that’s shipped is unripe as they only start to ripen once picked.
- canadianfella 5y agoFYI there’s nothing stopping people from shipping ripe avocados. “Shipped” isn’t a synonym of “picked”.
- Invictus0 5y agoA few months ago I started on an avocado-a-day diet--half at lunch, half at dinner--and shortly thereafter developed really bad heartburn. Turns out avocados are very high in fat and are known to cause heartburn if you eat too many in a short period of time. So buyer beware, avocados are only healthy in moderation!
- 29athrowaway 5y agoOne avocado a day doesn't sound like too much.
- bildung 5y agoIt's highly improbable that your heartburn was caused by the fat in a single avocado. An average Hass fruit weighs 140g and thus contains about 23g of fat, and most of this is unsaturated. You'd consume about the same amount of fat if you'd eat a single slice of bread with butter and cheese.
- someperson 5y agoAvocados don't breed true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWAR_DotvZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWAR_DotvZs So it's likely that his avocados cannot be found elsewhere. Find the avocado man, purchase clippings from his amazing tree and start an orchid.
- matvore 5y ago> So it's likely that his avocados cannot be found elsewhere. Well, according to the video, there is a 1/10k chance an avocado tree is good each time you "roll the dice." For a sense of magnitude, there are only seven types grown in California [1]. So if he is the only source of that avocado type he's sitting on a gold mine. [1] https://californiaavocado.com/avocado101/avocado-varieties/ https://californiaavocado.com/avocado101/avocado-varieties/
- Baeocystin 5y agoThey don't breed true, but it's not nearly as bad as that video makes it out. I've grown dozens of avocados from seed over the years, and the majority of them have good fruit. They aren't the same as the parent I know (and who knows what variety they pollinated with) but it's still a lot of fun to plant one and see what you get. Worst comes to worst, you'll still have a good rootstock!
- stinos 5y agoHad a similar experience with mangos. For me in Western Europe a mango is this rather tasty yellow fruit. Turns out in India mangos are orange and taste so much fuller, sweeter and better overall (even after having been on a plane, this was a gift from a colleague) I basically stopped eating mangos here.
- holler 5y agoWow, was picturing a perfectly ripe avocado reading this :) One place I know has great avocados are fruit stands in San Diego, particularly North County during summer. They grow them all over the hillsides and sell for cheap by the roadside. Thanks for sharing!