Difference Between Avocado and Guacamole

Avocado is a pear shaped fruit, which originated in Mexico. The edible part of the avocado fruit can be used as an ingredient in several processed food products. A dip called guacamole, toast spreads, milkshakes, ice creams and snacks are some of the well known avocado based food products. Due to the high amount of fat presence in the flesh, it is used to replace the fat component in processed foods. In some ice creams and yoghurts, avocado flesh is used as an alternative source of fat.

Avocado

According to biological classification, the avocado belongs to the Lauraceae family. It is scientifically named as Persea Americana. It is categorized as a fleshy fruit due to the presence of large berry containing a single seed in it. And the edible endocarp is very much fleshy in avocado. Again it is falling under the category of climacteric fruits. Those fruits are mature on the trees and ripen off the trees. Ethylene can stimulate the fruit ripening of avocado.

Nutritionally avocado is a fruit, which is very much rich in fat which provides 75 per cent of whole fruit calories. Monounsaturated fat in avocado is higher than the saturated and polyunsaturated fat compounds. In addition, it comprises carbohydrates (sugar and dietary fiber), protein, vitamins (B, E and K), and some minerals. 25 per cent of dietary fibers in avocado are soluble while the rest is insoluble. Due to this special composition, avocado is very much a nutritionally benefited fruit. It can help to reduce the LDL cholesterol, which is harmful to the health while increasing the amount of helpful HDL cholesterol. Not only for the health but also the composition of avocado is helpful in various ways such as beautification, soap preparation, and creams in the cosmetic industry.

Avocado plants are propagated in several ways. Naturally they do self pollination with the use of its dichogamy in flowering. But commercially it is propagated via some techniques like grafting, budding and tissue culture. By practicing these methods of propagations, it is possible to obtain a good quality yield, in high quantity. Subtropical and tropical climates are the best for the growth of avocado trees. Otherwise, they cannot tolerate freezing temperature conditions and maintain their physiological activities at the optimum levels.

Guacamole

Guacamole is one of the famous Mexican dip based on the flesh of avocado. There is not any significant, original recipe to make guacamole, but a number of different recipes are available. Often it is made with well-ripped avocado, mixed with tomato, lime juice, sea salt, pepper, chili powder, white onion, red onion, and some other spices or seasonings. In the case of preparing guacamole, the first step is to mash ripe avocados. Over ripped or un-ripped avocados will result in lower organoleptic qualities and shelf life too. A thick paste of mashed avocado combined with all or some of the ingredients is called as guacamole. Lime juice is added to guacamole to prevent enzymatic browning and help to obtain a nice color in the final product. There are several preservation practices can be followed in order to prolong the shelf life of guacamole. Freezing, high pressure packaging and artificial preservatives are used as preservation methods of guacamole. Keeping it as chilled products will enhance the preservation.