Avocado sorbet

Avocados are a winter fruit with a harvest time between late fall and early spring. A prolific producer of fruit, it’s hard to know how to use up the harvest. This sorbet recipe is a refreshing change from more common uses like quacamole or avocado toast.

Do avocados make you horny?

Ahuacati is what the Aztecs called avocados. Apparently, it was also what they called a testicle, because the two look strangely similar. They believed the fruit was an aphrodisiac that could boost fertility for both men and women. In the early 20th century, it was widely known in English as alligator pear. By the mid 20th century marketers of the increasingly popular fruit, changed the name to avocado. Its a good thing. Imagine ordering “testicle toast” in highbrow boutique restaurants.

California connection

In the 16th century, the Spanish brought the avocado from Mexico to California and then to Europe. In 1935, the plant gained a big boost in production when Rudolph Haas developed a new variety in La Habra Heights, near Los Angeles. The Haas avocado was nuttier and more oily than other varieties of the time. It was also more productive and easier to ship since the thick skin didn’t bruise easily. Today the Haas avocado comprises 95% of all avocados consumed in the US.