In article et>,
"Charles Gifford" > wrote:
>"Sheldon" > wrote in message
oups.com...
[ Snipped to avoid further confusion ]
>> I'm not quite sure of the above attributions, so bite me.

No thanks. I doubt that you're edible.

>> Someone is going to have validate the claim about which color skinned
>> avocado originated where with citations... personally I think,
>> considering the avocado is known to have originated some 5-6 Thousand
>> years BC, with no mention of any color skin whatsoever, the above claim
>> is a lotta hooey.
>>
>> This is the best I can find:
>> http://www.avocado.org/avocado-facts...do-history.php
>>
>> I tend to think the original avocado was light-ish green smooth
>> skinned, the dark pebbly skinned ie. Hass-ish being a very recent
>> example.
>
>I left all the attributions in my post as it is confusing enough as it is.
>My contribution to this thread was just to say that I did not say anything
>about Central American avocados and explained, very quickly, why. I did not
>comment on any other part of the previous poster's statements. In fact, I do
>not know much about the avocados history other than the fact that their
>ancestor almost certainly came from Central America and Southern Mexico. I
>think your thoughts on the subject are correct. Just relying on my memory of
>what I've heard over the years, are that the first avocados were not edible
>as we now know them. They were small with less flesh and progressing from
>hard-proceeding-to-rotten. As mar as I know, all the smooth skinned and
>pebbly skinned avocados are modern varieties. In San Diego, the Fuerte was
>the most common. Now it is 1. hass, 2. bacon, 3. fuerte and 4. a few other
>varieties.

I have raised several trees from seed (I know, I know... I'm old
enough to know better %-) and can confirm that there's bugger all
chance of getting half decent fruit from seedling trees of even
*modern* varieties . Charlie's "hard-proceeding-to-rotten" describes
their quality quite well. ;-)

Probably more detail than you ever wanted to know about avos at
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
<http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG213>
See especially their Table 2 for characteristics of the three
ecological races (Mexican, Guatemalan, and West Indian).

And if that's not enough, try:
<http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/avocado_ars.html>
which is "reprinted" from the late Julia Morton's book "Fruits of Warm
Climates" -- a bible of its genre.
There you'll find lots of stuff on origin and subsequent distribution,
descriptions of varieties, marketing and storage ... Oh, there's even
a section on Food Uses. ;-)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID