I’ve always been fascinated by avocado. It is such a delicious, creamy and rich treat that’s pretty versatile. You can enjoy it savory as well as sweet dishes. It’s rather healthy but also incredibly rich and fatty. One of the questions that often comes up is this: Is avocado a fruit or a vegetable?

Since it grows on a tree (the avocado tree) and is part of the reproductive organ of the plan that also carries the seed, it is technically / biologically a fruit. We do tend to think of it more as a vegetable though because of the way we use it in the kitchen.

Most of the time we use it in savory dishes and salad. And since avocado aren’t naturally sweet, we don’t think of them as fruit. We add it to salads, make cold soups from it or use it as a sandwich spread. Of course then there’s the ever popular guacamole, a simple avocado dip. Here’s my favorite recipe.

Simple Guacamole Recipe

• 2 avocados
• 1- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Cut the avocados in half and remove the pit. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and put it in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and use a fork to mash the avocado into a smooth paste. Stir in the salsa and salt. Chill until ready to serve.

In some cultures, the avocado is treated more like a fruit and is used in sweet dessert type dishes. Mostly it is mixed with milk and sugar to make a rich and sweet shake.

The nutritional makeup of the avocado also makes it unique. It is by far the fattiest fruit I am aware of. A medium Avocado contains 276 calories and 27.6 grams of fat. Thankfully those fats are the healthy kind but you should still limit yourself to no more than 1 avocado every other day.

Ready to include more avocado in you meals. One easy way to do this is to buy them when they are on sale and then freeze them. They turn out quite well provided you know how to freeze avocado. You can then use your frozen avocados in dips, sandwich spread, soups etc. It’s time to use this unique fruit in your kitchen on a regular basis.

By: SUSANNE

---