Health Green avocados are nutritious natural all-rounders

Tasty and healthy: the avocado is a true all-rounder

Avocados as a spread, in salad or to prepare delicious desserts and shakes: The delicious fruit is versatile in the kitchen. In addition, thanks to the abundant vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids, it is also very healthy and protects against diseases. Nevertheless, avocados should be enjoyed only moderately.

Versatile fruit

Only a few years ago, many Germans only knew avocados from their holidays. But now the delicious fruit can be found in almost all supermarkets. In this country, it is usually used as a dip, for example in the form of guacamole or as a bread covering. But the healthy superfood can do a lot more: avocados are suitable for salads and soups, they can be baked in the oven and serve as the basis for seductive desserts and delicious drinks. Too often, however, the fruits should not end up on the table.

Guacamole, salads, shakes: avocados are versatile in the kitchen. The delicious fruits are also very healthy due to their ingredients and can protect against diseases. (Image: tycoon101 / fotolia.com)

Delicious and healthy

Avocados are often seen as extremely low-fat calorie bombs, which is why many avoid the tasty fruits. However, the unsaturated fatty acids that the body can not produce itself can even help you lose weight.

According to experts, the enzyme lipase, which controls the burning of fat during digestion and in adipose tissue, plays a role in particular.

"In addition come minerals such as magnesium and potassium, but also iron and vitamins B, E and K and the provitamin A," said Heidrun Schubert of the Consumer Center Bavaria in a message from the news agency dpa.

According to scientific research, avocados can help lower cholesterol levels and are good for hematopoiesis. In addition, thanks to the potassium they contain, they are an important contribution to a healthy heart.

A few years ago, Canadian researchers even tested the use of avocado fruit lipid - avocatin B - in the treatment of blood cancer.

Furthermore, the fruits are said to help build muscle and are therefore very popular with many athletes.

Superfood with bad ecological balance

For many consumers, avocados used to be considered exotics, but today they are available in almost every supermarket.

Most of the fruits come from South America, South Africa, Israel and Spain. When you buy the avocado is often a bit hard, but at room temperature, it ripens quickly.

If you want to help out, you should store them with apples, for example. These emit the gas ethylene, which ensures that the avocado matures faster.

Despite the health benefits, there is also a downside to the avocado boom: The fruits need a lot of water. As the scientists Mesfin M. Mekonnen and Arjen Y. Hoekstra from the University of Twente in Enschede in the Netherlands calculated in a scientific paper, almost 2,000 liters of water are needed for the production of one kilogram of avocados.

In growing countries where drinking water is scarce, production can have drastic consequences.

Environmentalists also criticize that avocados put back long transport routes until they land in our supermarket. Therefore, for example, Wiebke Unger from the Vegetarian Federation Germany (VEBU) advises to pay attention to organic quality and origin when shopping.

Stiftung Warentest also has a good tip on its website: "Consume avocados in moderation and deliberately as a stimulant. If you only eat half the fruit, sprinkle lemon juice on the second half and do not remove the kernel. Wrapped in foil and cooled, the cut surface then stays green. "

Where does the avocado strain Hass get its name from

For all those who have ever wondered in the supermarket, why there is next to the "Fuerte" also an avocado variety, which bears the name "hate", said the nutrition expert Heidrun Schubert, that this after the explorer, the California postman Rudolph Hatred, was named. "Today, this strain is one of the tastiest," said Schubert in an earlier release.

Before preparing the fruits, they should always be cleaned with cold or lukewarm water and lightly scrubbed. Because on the hubby shell of the fruit bumble bacteria and pesticides, which can reach when cutting with a knife in the pulp.

And there is another threat to health: cutting and coring would "more and more people injure themselves acutely," as the Vice President of the British Society of Hand Surgery, Simon Eccles, told The Times.

Such injuries are therefore referred to in the clinic as "avocado hand".

Avocados can be wonderfully combined

There are many possibilities for processing the avocado. The ecotrophologist and cookbook author Martina Kittler refers in the dpa message on the mild-aromatic taste of avocado: "It can be wonderfully combine, both hearty and sweet."

The preparation is classic with tomatoes, onions and garlic. But also sharpness harmonizes with the mild fruit: "Chili peppers fit very well," says Kittler.

The cookbook author combines the avocado for a salad with uncooked squash, apple and coriander leaves and tops it with mixed kernels, which she roasts in honey and chili flakes.

For desserts and drinks

Avocados can also be baked well in the oven. The cookbook author and blogger Ulrike Göbl halves an avocado for the so-called Eivocado, extracts some pulp with a spoon and places one egg into each hollow.

The whole is then cooked at medium temperature in the oven until the egg has the desired hardness and then seasoned with pepper and salt.

Interesting not only for vegans: Avocados can be used as a butter substitute for baking desserts. Göbl also uses the fruits for desserts, for example as the basis for a chocolate mousse.

Although an avocado is mixed with some unsweetened cocoa powder and maple syrup, the mousse does not taste like avocado: "It is overshadowed by the taste of the other ingredients, especially cocoa."

Furthermore, avocados are suitable for the preparation of drinks, such as in combination with iced coffee.

"In addition to the uplifting effect of caffeine, you also take a dose of vitamins and healthy fats to yourself. You can actually see the coffee as a wholesome meal, and it is therefore ideal for a quick breakfast, "said Göbl. She mixes half a cup of milk and half a mashed avocado for a cup of cold coffee.

Smoothies or milkshakes can also be prepared with the delicious fruits. On Internet portals, there are far more great recipe ideas. (Ad)