Avocados are quickly gaining popularity as a healthy addition to our daily routine. This fruit can be an excellent addition to your diet that can be nutritious and is the only fruit with unsaturated fats. As a result, avocados can be a great pick, whether you want something to add to your sandwiches, salads, or a healthy dessert. But have you ever wondered about how many Avocado types are there? Hass and Fuerte are the main types of avocados found in the world.
In this article, we have curated the list of different types of Avocados with their pictures and interesting facts. So read on to know more!
What is an avocado?
Avocadi is a type of cherry, also known as an alligator pear or butter fruit, that usually grows in warm climates. Butter fruit is a classified member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae, likely originating from south-central Mexico. Avocado trees are often propagated through grafting to maintain quantity and fruit quality, though these trees are partially self-pollinating.
Avocados are classified into two types which are Type A and Type B cultivars.
Type A Cultivars:
- Type A avocados use their female reproductive parts to bloom in the morning first. Then on the following day, in the afternoon, the flowers open as the opposite sex.
- Most Type A avocados are descendants of Hass and have hass-like characteristics.
- Type A avocados have high oil content, rich nutty flesh, thick and firm skin.
- Hass, Pinkerton, Lamb Hass, Carmen Hass, Gwen, Reed, Mexicola Grande, Stewart, Holiday, Pryor (aka Fantastic), Opal (aka Lila) are some type A avocados.
Type B Cultivars:
- Type B avocados use their male phase to open in the morning first. Then on the following day, in the afternoon, the flowers open as the opposite sex.
- Type B avocados are green skins with lower oil content slightly watery flesh, fragile and thin-skinned.
- Some type B avocados are Fuerte, Bacon, Zutano, Sir Prize, Joey, Winter Mexican, Brogdon, and Wilma aka Brazos Belle.
See More: Different Varieties of Mangoes
15 Most Commercial & Different Avocado Types (A & B Type Cultivars):
We present you with the list of different kinds of Avocados and all their characteristics in detail.
1. Choquette Avocados:
Choquette avocado is a mix of two different types – Guatemalan and West Indian avocados that originated in Florida. This fruit is dark-green in color and oval-shaped. This Type of Avocado has high water content, smooth and glossy skin. In addition, Choquette avocado is known to release a silky type of fluid when you cut into it. Therefore, the flesh itself is pretty watery and has a mild taste, and it is one of the Guatemalan avocado varieties.
2. Gwen Avocados:
Gwen avocado is dark-green in color and has an oval shape. This Avocado has creamy flesh that is flavorful and is larger in form with a texture similar to Hass avocado. Developed first in California, the pebbly skin is thick and easy to peel. It has a small to medium-sized seed, and the fruit weighs up to 15 ounces.
Gwen avocado grows around a height of 15 feet maximum. It is one of the smaller Avocado varieties. It blooms in Spring and ripens the following May through September. You can grow Gwen avocados in large suitable containers because of the prolific fruit production and compact size.
3. Hass Avocados:
Hass Avocado is the butter avocado variety that has a purplish-black color. The fruit’s thick skin turns dark purple as it ripens with a velvet-like texture and tastes somewhat nutty. This fruit is a perfect option for guacamole because of its exquisite flavor. Although you can prune them shorter, Hass avocado trees can grow up to 35 feet and are frost-sensitive below 32 degrees F.
Hass avocado blooms from February to May and ripens April through September from previous years’ flowers. The Hass avocado has fruits on them for about 12 to 14 months.
4. Pryor/Del Rio Avocados:
Pryor or Del Rio avocados are the cold-hardy avocado varieties also called fantastic. This avocado tree can reach 25 to 30 feet high, growing into a medium-large tree. The texture of these avocados is creamy, with a mild flavor, and has a good oil content. It has a medium to olive green thin skin and is a reasonably small fruit. Fantastic avocados bloom from winter through late Spring and ripen from August to November.
5. Holiday Avocados:
Holiday avocados are semi-dwarf trees with a distinct weeping canopy and reach a maximum of 12 to 15 feet. These fruits have a good flavor and medium oil content. It also stays green as they ripen and is known for its large oval fruit.
Holiday avocados ripen during the holiday season, giving them their name. These fruits are perfect for small backyards and container gardening because of their compact size and prolific fruit production.
6. Mexicola Avocados:
The Mexicola avocado is originated in Mexico, is black in color and pear-shaped. This is one of the flavorful types of Avocado, with smooth and shiny skin. However, the fruit has a large seed and is difficult to peel because of its thin skin. This fruit’s peel has an anise-like flavor, and many people find it edible.
Mexicola avocado reaches 40 feet or greater and is considered a vigorous grower and producer. These fruits bloom during mid-spring to early summer and ripen from August through October.
7. Pinkerton Avocados:
Pinkerton is a type of hass avocados with an oval shape instead of a pear. These fruits have pale-green flesh, tiny seed, and are pretty long. These trees are medium-size with a sprawling canopy and are manageable compared to other avocado varieties.
Pinkerton avocados have a notably smaller pit and have an excellent nutty flavor similar to Hass. The fruit stays grees as it ripens, with moderately thick, pebbled, easy to peel skin. This tree can be grown in different locations because it is resistant to cold and frost.
Pinkerton avocados bloom during springtime and ripen from November through April. This fruit variety is dependent on the Type B pollinator partner tree.
8. Reed Avocados:
Reed avocados are the Mexican avocado varieties that come under the Type A cultivars. This fruit is roughly the same size as a softball, round, dark-green color, making it the largest Avocado available. It has a highly buttery flesh with excellent flavor and has slightly pebbled skin that peels easily.
Reed trees grow upright compared to other avocado varieties and grow more slender. When paired with good pruning, it is a compact tree in tighter spaces and tolerant of heat.
Reed avocado trees bloom Spring to Summer and ripen the following summer. But, like Hass, after first developing, they need nearly a year on the tree.
9. Wurtz Avocados:
Wurtz avocados are the only Type of dwarf avocados in this fruit variety, also called Little Cado. The tree reaches 10 to 15 feet height maximum belonging to Type A and B cultivars. This Avocado tree is frost-sensitive below 32 F and provides small to medium-size fruit that tastes good.
Wurtz avocados remain green as the fruit ripens and the skin is pretty thin. These fruits bloom late winter through Spring and ripen May through September. This is the only avocado variety that bears fruit young and makes for a great backyard tree.
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10. Bacon Avocados:
Bacon avocado is a hybrid between two Mexican-type avocados with freckled green skin and oval shape. When they reach maturity, these avocado trees grow an average of 20 feet, medium and upright.
Bacon Avocados, as they ripen, stay slightly dark green but with a thin skin, so use a spoon to scoop the flesh. These avocados have less oil than Hass but have yellow and creamy flesh.
Bacon avocados are popular in colder climates because they are cold-hardy to 24 to 26 degrees F. They are commonly found as a companion to type A cultivars. These fruits bloom during late winter to Spring and ripen from December through February.
11. Brogdon Avocados:
Brogdon Avocados is one of the purple avocado varieties because it produces a large fruit that turns purple as it ripes with smooth skin. These avocado trees have a very upright and dense canopy reaching over 30 feet tall with maturity.
Brogdon Avocados are typed A and B cultivars that are cold-hardy to 24 degrees F and are perfect for guacamole because of their very buttery and nutty flavored flesh. The blooming time of these avocados is mid-spring to early summer and ripens from August through November.
12. Zutano Avocados:
Zutano Avocado is one of the tropical avocado varieties from the Type B cultivars. When mature, this avocado tree reaches over 40 feet, making it a large and cold-hardy to 26 degrees F.
Zutano avocado is similar to Fuerte, with green-ripening skin and medium to large, good-tasting fruit. However, compared to many other avocado varieties, Zutano fruit is higher in water and less in oil, making it less flavorful and creamy.
Zutano avocados bloom during the Spring and ripen from October through February. They are known to be a heavy producer and consistent.
13. Fuerte Avocados:
Fuerte is the avocado fruit type from type B cultivar with medium-thick skin and leathery texture, making it easy to peel. This avocado tree type has a wide sprawling canopy that grows up to 35 feet. Fuerte avocados are less heat-tolerant and are cold-hardy down to 28 degrees F.
Compared to Type A avocado varieties, Fuerte avocados have less oil content, though excellent flavor and creaminess. The bloom time of these avocado trees is from May to November and ripen from November to April. Fuerte is commonly grown as a cross-pollinator for Hass and is the second most popular avocado variety.
14. Stewart Avocados:
Stewart Avocados, also called Stuart, is a type A cultivar, a medium-sized tree that reaches about 20 to 25 feet without pruning when they fully mature. This Type of Avocado is cold-hardy to 20-22 degrees F, and it has a very creamy, nutty-flavored flesh. In addition, it has a thin leathery skin that turns dark purple to black when ripe and has a pear shape.
Stewart avocados bloom during the Spring and ripen from October to December. Therefore, this avocado tree exhibits characteristics of Type b, although it is a type A pollinator.
15. Sir Prize Avocados:
Sir Prize avocados look like black Fuerte avocados with a high-quality taste. These type-B cultivars grow into medium-sized upright trees, reaching 25 to 35 with maturity. Though they belong to Type B, Sir Prize avocado’s flesh texture and fat content are more like Type A avocado varieties.
Sir Prize Avocados grows larger fruit with a smaller pit that turns black as it ripens. This Type of Avocado can handle temperatures as low as 28 degrees F. It ripens in winter to early Spring, earlier than Hass. When you cut it, the flesh of this fruit remains green.
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Interesting facts about Avocados:
Here are some facts about Avocados that you might find interesting:
- The townsfolk of Mesoamerica offered Avocados as tribute, 7000 years ago giving them royal roots.
- Cinnamon and Avocados belong to the same family.
- You can find 4.6 grams of fiber in half of an average-sized avocado.
- Compared to bananas, an avocado has more potassium which is 975 milligrams.
- 90% of the U.S. avocado crop is produced in California. At the same time, 40% of all California-grown avocados are from San Diego County.
- People uploaded more than 3,000,000 photos of avocado toast to Instagram every day in the summer of 2017.
- Eating Avocado helps build your immune system efficiently.
- Avocados were called ahuacatl by the Aztecs, alligator pears, and aguacate by the Spanish conquistadors.
Avocados have many varieties available all year round and accessible almost everywhere, because of planters, like any other fruit. Different climates and weather conditions also play a role in the Type of Avocado you choose. You will be sure to have a fruit with a long list of health benefits, no matter what Avocado you select. Don’t forget to let us know if you found this article helpful!
FAQ:
1. Which is the Best Type of Avocado?
One of the famous avocado types and considered by many to be the best is the Hass avocado. It is perfect for guacamole as it’s an intense flavor, and the flesh is pretty creamy.
2. Which country is the top producer of Avocados?
In 2019, Mexico harvested some 2.3 million tons of avocados. This makes Mexico the highest producer of this fruit globally.
3. Are Avocados fruits?
Yes! Avocados have fleshy pulp and seeds making them fall into the berries category. Initially, the Avocado’s skin is green when on the tree. But it turns to dark green, dark purple, or even black with ripening.
4. What are the types of green avocados?
The Florida avocados are green-skinned avocados grown in Florida; Pollock, Lula, Bernecker, and Taylor are popular individual varieties grown in this area. Pinkerton, Reed, Gwen, Bacon, Fuerte are other notable green avocados outside Florida.
5. Which is the purple avocado variety?
Discovered in the 1990s in South Africa, Maluma is a dark-purple avocado. The avocado tree bears a lot of fruit, though it grows slowly.
Disclaimer: The information provided in the article is based on research and for informational and educational purposes only. The website is not responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of the information.
