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Monday, December 15, 2008

Beyond Guacamole: Work Avocado Into Your Daily Menu

By Steve Petusevsky
From Health magazine

Although sometimes maligned for its fat content, the creamy, heart-healthy avocado can play a very versatile—and nutritious—role in your diet. Here are a few facts about avocados.

Avocados are a fruit, not a vegetable, and have more potassium than bananas.

The Aztecs, among the earliest harvesters of the avocado, used it as a sexual stimulant.

Avocados are cholesterol-free but have 30 grams of fat, most of which is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

Hass avocados (the most common variety) are available year-round. They’re ripe when the skin is nearly black and the fruit yields to soft pressure.

Tip: In the bag
Contributing Editor Robin Miller, host of Food Network’s Quick Fix Meals With Robin Miller, offers this tip: To speed ripening, put avocados in a brown paper bag with an apple for a few days at room temperature. The apple releases ethylene gas, a ripening agent.

Original here

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