Avocado

Botanically a fruit, the avocado pear can be eaten as a fruit or a vegetable. The skin is inedible but the rich creamy flesh goes well with citrus and other fruits such as pineapple, and with salty foods like ham and anchovy. It is also good peeled and sliced in salads.

Three types of avocado are common. Most familiar is the alligator type, which has a rough leathery skin and pronounced taste—it is picked while still hard and green but ripens to be almost black. The West Indian avocado is rounder with smoother skin and a more neutral taste. The Mexican avocado (also widely cultivated in Florida) is larger than the others, with a sweet milky flesh and smooth green skin, even when ripe. Tiny seedless avocados from Israel, often called pickle or cocktail avocados, are a treat if you can find them. Mature avocados do not ripen until they are picked. They should be rock hard when transported to the stores; once they soften deterioration is rapid, so it is best to buy them hard and ripen them at home.