Avocado, alongside almond milk and coconut water are the 3 highest growth categories of food products in the world in the last year. After all, what does this fruit have?
According to the IRI survey, the category of avocados grew almost 30% in just one year, driven by the macro trend “clean eating”. In New Zealand high consumption led to a shortage and a wave of thefts and sales of the fruit on the black market.
Supermarket in New Zealand
In the United Kingdom it surpassed sales of oranges. In the United States, much of the production comes from Michoacán, a region of Mexico controlled by drug cartels. As producers are forced to pay fees to traffickers, US consumption has helped finance what they already call “blood guacamole”.
Bloggers and celebrity chefs have also inserted it into their recipes, further boosting demand. The craze has reached such a peak that there is a restaurant in The Netherlands, The Avocado Show, where all dishes contain avocado, including drinks and desserts. In England there is the Avopopup, in the same style.
For healthiness or for taste, the fact is that this fruit is the raw material of incredible new products!
Vegan Butter – We’ve already talked about them and the vegan eggs in this post here:
Vegan butter – AVO, Low Low and Earth Balance
Chocolate mousse – after appearing on several fitness and vegan sites as a dessert option without dairy ingredients, now it gained an industrialized version:
Oil:
Avocado Oil: Donoxti, Olivado e Chosen Foods
Mayonnaise:
Mayonnaise: Chosen Foods
Honey – this honey comes from bees that pollinated avocado, which gives a slightly different flavor to the product, a subtle touch of the fruit:
Honey: Bloom Honey
Chips:
Avocado chips: Temole
And the lump, can you eat?
You better not. There is some research on beneficial compounds contained in the fruit core extract, but it is uncertain whether it is safe to ingest the lump.
If it is not advisable to eat, then what to do?
The Mexican startup Biofase has found an innovative application for the lump: bioplastic. I like so much of bioplastics that I wrote an e-book only on the subject (you already downloaded yours? No? Just register your email in the Eat Innovation newsletter and get yours for free). And I like even more when plastic is made from food waste that is not people’s food – after all, what’s the point of making plastic with food while people are starving?
So far there are no other uses for this waste and the demand for bioplastics continues to grow every year.
How about a toast? With avocado beer, of course!
Beer: Angel City and Island Brewing Company
References: Munchies – Vice, Food Manufacture, Telegraph, FreshPlaza, TrendHunter, The Kitchn, Food World News, Wanderlust, Nexo Jornal, Telegraph, The Daily Meal, Los Angeles Magazine
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