IN THE NEWS: avocados

The English word ‘avocado’ comes first from the Spanish aguacate but the Spanish got it from the Mexica (Aztecs), who called it ahuácatl and the avocado tree ahuacaquáhuitl. Because of the resemblance in its shape, in common folklore (presumably going back to Aztec times, though there’s no direct evidence of this) it has been used metaphorically to refer to the testicle*. Considered a ‘superfood’ by some, we know that wild avocado fruit (Persea Americana) was being gathered and eaten by native Americans in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico as far back as 8,000-7,000 BCE. Less than 5,000 years later farmers began to plant and grow avocado trees in the region - despite clearly knowing that, a bit like cacao, avocado trees do not first bear fruit for 7 years! These early farmers really ‘knew their onions’, observing the plant’s life cycle over time and taking an agricultural leap of faith in trying to domesticate it.

Pic 1: Young avocado plant (seedling), complete with parted pit and roots

Its popularity among the Mexica is confirmed too by the existence of the tributary town Ahuacatlan (Place of [Many] Avocados), province of Tlapan, in the Codex Mendoza. Perhaps due to its name and local folklore, the Spanish originally discouraged its cultivation assuming it to be an aphrodisiac, and of course it took even longer to reach the shores of England (it doesn’t travel well, to say the least), where its reputation came with it: one late 17th century English explorer, William Dampier, wrote ‘It is reported that this Fruit provokes to Lust, and therefore is said to be much esteemed by the Spaniards’ (Coe 1994: 46). We know almost nothing about exactly how it was eaten in ancient Mexico, other than mashed into a sauce, with tomatoes and spices, that we know today as guacamole.

Pic 3: The toponym (place glyph) for Ahuacatlan, Codex Mendoza for. 39r (detail)