Avocado

Not all avocados are created equal. Two types may be as different from each other as Idaho russet and Peruvian purple fingerling potatoes. An avocado may taste nutty to fruity, savory to sweet. The skin may be thick and pebbly, thin and smooth, shiny or dull; it may be colored spruce, burgundy, grass-green, or black. The flesh, ocher to chartreuse, may be creamy to dense, juicy to relatively dry. Some avocados turn brown once cut; most do not. Some avocados tip the scales at one-half pound, some at five. Perhaps most telling on the tongue is oil content, which can range from 3 to 30 percent and which affects the character of the fruit dramatically.