March is a special month for seasonal fruit .
The winter fruits are now running out and for the spring ones it is still too early, only the first strawberries emerge, which, in most cases, however, are not yet the Italian ones.
And then, perhaps, it may be the right month to indulge in some exotic fruit, always with the awareness, however, that favoring products with a short and truly seasonal chain is healthier for us and for the environment. Many of the avocados that come to our tables come from far away, mainly from Central America, sometimes from Spain .
In fact, in recent years, some attempts to cultivate avocado is also made in Italy: it happens in Sicily, on the slopes of Etna, where, thanks to the particularly mild climate and the qualities of water and soil, different qualities of these fruits, mainly with organic methods; seasonality depends on the type of fruit, the best Sicilian avocado to be consumed in March is the Hass .
As for properties, avocado is a good source of potassium, fiber and monounsaturated fats . It is considered an excellent ally in the diet against high cholesterol, has a good content of vitamins, in particular vitamin A and vitamins of group B and has digestive and astringent qualities .
How to choose and keep the avocado
The avocado should be consumed when it is ripe ; to check it, check that it is soft with light finger pressure .
If it is still unripe, in order to speed up ripening, store it in a paper bag, at room temperature, for 3-5 days. Instead, the ripe avocado can be kept in the refrigerator for 5-6 days.
The avocado among the potassium-rich fruit
How to eat the avocado: the guacamole recipe
Avocado is one of those fruits that is well suited to savory dishes. It is the main ingredient of guacamole, a simple and quick to make sauce, which goes well with salads, appetizers and main courses.
To prepare it in a similar way to the classic recipe :
> 2 avocados,
> a clove of garlic,
> an onion,
> 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil,
> 1-2 ripe tomatoes,
> a hot pepper,
> an untreated lemon,
> a teaspoon of fresh chopped coriander,
> salt, black pepper.
The original recipe, in reality, to foresee the lime instead of the lemon, but since it is really difficult to find some untreated from our parts, better a sincere local lemon.
Method : blanch the tomato, then peel it and cut it into cubes. Peel the avocados, cut them in two and remove the internal core; cut the pulp of the first into cubes, put the pulp of the other in a bowl and crush it with a fork. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and season with the peel and lemon juice, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, fresh coriander, a piece of finely chopped hot pepper, salt and black pepper. After mixing everything, let it rest in the refrigerator for about half an hour, covering the surface of the bowl with film, to prevent it from oxidizing.
The guacamole sauce variants are very numerous . It can be prepared more or less spicy. You can replace the coriander with parsley, you can remove the garlic or add more, use the sweet or spicy paprika or even there are those who like to enrich it with fresh spreadable cheese…. A versatile and customizable sauce, according to your tastes.
