Avocados? Yes, Please

Last month I tortured enticed you with chocolate truffles. I even created a truffle mania pinboard on Pinterest. But you may be happy to know that the truffle making has subsided (for now) and I just might be talking a lot about avocados over the next month.

Can you imagine what it’s like to live and work on an avocado ranch? That’s what my friend Mimi Holtz (aka @mimiavocado) does with her family in California. I met Mimi last August at the BlogHer conference in San Diego and learned for the first time that not all avocados are the same. Being an East Coast girl, the avocados I am used to seeing are Haas avocados at the grocery store.

But I’ve been itching to try different varieties, and especially – to bake with them. So I was very excited to be able to order some Fuerte avocados from California Avocados Direct. (Hurry – they are running a March madness sale on these avocados.)

Did you know that the avocado is a fruit? Within the fruit family, I thought that it may be classified as a drupe (like a peach), but it’s actually classified as a berry (with a single seed).

What’s the difference between a Haas avocado and a Fuerte avocado? Fuerte avocados have a thinner skin, which can actually be peeled back. They stay green (even when ripe) whereas the skin of a Haas avocado will turn black when ripe.

These Fuerte avocados are so tender they practically melt in your mouth. Mimi tells me that the Californians look forward to Fuerte avocado season the same way we look forward to tomato season on the East Coast. To learn more about avocados, visit Mimi's blog about life on an avocado ranch.

So, the question now is – what should I do with all of these avocados? I have pinned a few avocado recipes to try (check out my board on Pinterest). What do you think I should make?