WEBVTT - How Did the Avocado Conquer the World? 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:01.240 Guess what, Mango, what's that? 0:00:01.320 --> 0:00:03.360 Well, well, I know you like to turn to me 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:05.840 to keep up with like the coolest things going on 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.160 in the world, or like trends happening, So I wanted 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.319 to let you in a little secret. Have you heard 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.280 about the coolest way to use an avocado right now? 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.360 So I'm not really off on super hip avocado trends. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.480 Like I saw a restaurant ridiculed online for serving this 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:27.160 deconstructed avocado toast which was just half an avocado on 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:28.600 one side of a play and then a piece of 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.720 toast on the other. And they didn't even do the 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.800 work of smashing them together. It was just like overpriced laziness. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.360 But I don't know what trend are you talking about. 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.199 It's actually not a dish. So the coolest thing you 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.920 can do right now with an avocado is to propose 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.400 with one. And I'm not kidding about this. So the 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.559 not Cosmo and all these other places have declared that 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.720 the avocado proposal it's here, Mango, it's here. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.560 I'm excited, but I don't know what it is. Tell 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:56.640 me all. 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:59.400 Right, So, basically, people are slicing an avocado in half, 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.400 taking out the pit and then sticking a little ring 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.640 in so it stands up right. Actually, this is kind 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.679 of grossing me out, but I'm trying to go with it. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.080 And so then the moment is right and you just 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:11.759 queue up cold play, You get down on one knee, 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.520 you take that avocado out of your back pocket. I 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:16.240 don't know why they're suggesting to keep it in your 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.000 back pocket, and then you crack it open like a 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.240 ring box and as then puts it quote, if you 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.480 love the farmer's market, this might be your dream proposal. 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.880 I like that it's the official proposal of like farmers' markets. 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.399 Yeah, I've always looked for one of these. Well, today's 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.600 show is all about the creamy green fruit from Why 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.640 you Should Thank a Mailman for your guacamole obsession to win. 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.000 Avocado theft became so trendy, So we're about to get 0:01:42.080 --> 0:02:06.600 knee high on avocado's let's dive in. Hey their podcast listeners, 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:08.880 Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.200 always I'm joined by my good friend Mangesh hot Ticketter 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.119 and on the other side of the soundproof glass, demonstrating 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.799 the absolute worst way to peel an avocado. I Honestly, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:18.880 I can't even look at it. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:20.679 I know, I don't think you're supposed to use a 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:22.320 vegetable peeler on Tristan. 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.320 Oh, well, anyway, I'm gonna turn my head. But that's 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.840 our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. So I realized, you 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.240 know mego, this is a slightly grim way to start 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.000 the show. But I was reading about this recent wave 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:38.120 of avocado related injuries, or what they call avocado hand 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.040 and people are doing serious damage to their hands by 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:44.080 trying and of course failing, to cut into their avocados. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.519 So that's pretty crazy. Like I hadn't heard about people 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.520 injuring themselves on avocados. But it does feel like the 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.400 same as when bagels became really popular in the nineties 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.160 and suddenly like every local news story was about people 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.760 cutting themselves with bagels and how to appropriately slice a 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.200 bag It doesn't seem bad difficult, but I mean, I 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.800 guess you don't get avocado's presliced. What's the solution. 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.799 Well, it's actually become a big enough problem that there's 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.840 this British plastic surgeon and he's been pushing for warning 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.000 labels to be added to avocados. In the UK really 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.960 and apparently, yeah, seriously, apparently he treats an average of 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.480 four patients a week, four patients a week for avaquada 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.520 based injuries. So I mean, it may seem weird to 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.799 put a sticker and that it may actually sound silly, 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:30.800 but you can't really blame him for wanting to do 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.400 something about this epidemic of avocado fails. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.880 That's so weird. Like I mean, I feel like you 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:37.880 can cut an avocado with a butter knife. You don't 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.760 need something super sharp to do it. 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:40.960 Well. 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.680 While prepping for today's show, one of my biggest takeaways 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.600 was that most Americans have always been pretty clueless when 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.920 it comes to these leathery fruits, and this confusion actually 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.200 goes all the way back to the early twentieth century. 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.360 That's when avocado production was first taking root in the US. 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.640 But before we get into the state side history, I 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.600 do want to go back a little further in time 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.560 because humans have actually been cultivating avocado trees for thousands 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.240 of years now. It goes as far back as five 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.440 hundred BC, and this was mostly taking place in Central 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.920 and South America as well as Mexico, where the Aztecs 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.200 were calling the fruit a word that they used for testicle. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.320 And so that was based on what like the fruit shape. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.400 Yeah, but also because avocado's typically grown pears, which I 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:24.960 guess further the resemblance. 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:26.440 But h I get it, I get it. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.400 I go. Yeah, it's a great joke that kills at recess. 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.760 But they also used to be considered something of an afrodisiac. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.240 But that might have just been Europeans reading too much 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.560 into the words origin. Like apparently King Louis the fourteenth 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.760 nicknamed avocado's the good pear in French, you know, pear 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.359 the fruit, not pair pai r. But he called it 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.520 that because he claimed avocado's got him in the mood 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:49.440 and boosted his desire to mate. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.920 Well, Louis definitely wasn't the last person to compare avocados 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.480 to the shape of a pair, because when avocados first 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:57.960 started to catch on in the US, people were actually 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.040 calling them alligator pears. Makes sense, I mean, obviously that 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.839 tough outer skin, it has that bumpy texture and green coloring. 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.240 I mean, he does kind of look like an alligator, 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.440 but he didn't really make for the most appetizing association, 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:11.480 as you can imagine. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:13.880 Yeah, I mean I guess like biting into an alligator 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:14.800 seems like a tough cell. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.600 Yeah, And that's exactly what the California Avocado Growers Exchange 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.120 found when they were trying to expand their business just 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.880 beyond that home state. And they claim that grim association 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.640 with you know, with reptiles was kind of ruining the 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.960 whole operation. And even worse, it was, you know, of course, 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.919 besmirching the good name of the Laurel tree family to 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.320 which these avocados belong. And this is serious because in 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.200 nineteen twenty seven, the trade group released the statement and 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.760 here's what it says. That the avocado, an exalted member 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.280 of the Laurel family, should be called an alligator pair 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:48.240 is beyond all understanding. 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:50.760 I love that they thought this would be the thing 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.360 to change people's minds. Like, I know how we'll get 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.680 people on board. Let's appeal to everyone's love for Laurel trees. 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.560 Yeah, that's all it took. Well, I mean, it was 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.720 maybe kind of a strange play, but they did get 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.520 smarter about the rebranding. The growers slowly weaned the public 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.200 off of the alligator pear as a nickname, and they 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.040 first replaced it with a much more appetizing butter paar, 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.160 and then the somewhat redundant avocado pear before they finally 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.360 just got people to start calling them avocados. But even 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:22.240 once customers started calling them by the right name, avocados 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.120 still faced a pretty uphill battle. 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:25.360 So why is that. 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.320 Well, for one thing, if you think about it, they're 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.599 unlike any other fruits that people were eating because they're 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.040 not sweet, they're not really good for cooking. They ripened 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.000 off the tree. I mean, people didn't really know what 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:37.760 to do with them. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:39.960 Yeah, it's funny to think that Mexican culture and cuisine 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.840 just took to it so quickly, but just one country north, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.760 we were so perplexed by this fruit, like it took 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.599 so much rebranding and marketing for us to catch on. 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.240 I mean, the process took most of the twentieth century 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:52.080 to get us on board. 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.480 Yeah, that's true, But it actually is kind of fun 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.440 to look back and see how avocados kind of gradually 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.880 took on the characteristics that we most associate with them today. 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:03.840 For example, the need to grow avocados only in the 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.080 mildest parts of the country, you know, where you'd find 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.600 the water and short supply. That really meant avocados often 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.080 cost more than other domestic fruits, and of course marketers 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.640 were aware of how expensive their product was becoming, and 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.520 that's really why they started pushing for avocados to be 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.280 paired with other upscale foods like grapefruit or lobster. And 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.200 in fact, in the late nineteen twenties, and I had 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.440 not seen this before doing our research for this week, 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.960 but the California Avocados Society started taking out ads in 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.920 Vogue and The New Yorker, and they were proclaiming the 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.760 avocados to be the quote aristocrat of salad fruits. 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:39.920 I like, the avocados need to come in top hats 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:44.040 and monocles just so likely. But you know, to me, 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.280 that's less advertizing than just calling them alligator pairs. 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.280 Yeah, but the fruits fancy status kind of stuck, and 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.640 by the nineteen seventies, avocados had developed this reputation as 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.480 really more of a luxury item. For example, in nineteen 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.760 seventy four, the price of a single avocado had soared 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.280 as high as a full dollar. Now keep in mind 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.560 that's the equivalent of almost five dollars in today's money. 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.640 That is crazy So what about avocado's other big claim, 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.280 like the idea that they're one of the world's healthiest superfoods. 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:12.720 When did that really come about? 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.480 Well, it really took off in the nineteen eighties, and 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.120 as you might remember, this is when nutrition experts really 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.720 started to crack down on America's fat consumption. So low 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.520 fat food started appearing on store shelves, and every celebrity 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:27.960 you could think of was pushing some sort of patented 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.240 diet or crazy new piece of exercise equipment. And you know, 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.600 as people began looking for more and more ways to 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.679 reduce their fat intake, avocados became a pretty popular target. 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.840 But wait, aren't avocados full of like the good kind 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.240 of fat that kind of actually helps us reduce cholesterol? Like, 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.960 why would experts tell people not to eat them? 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.600 Well, at the time, nutritionists were worried that the American 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.960 public wouldn't be able to wrap their heads around that 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.640 distinction between the types of fats, you know, between the 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:58.160 good mono unsaturated fats and the bad saturated fat. So 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.840 instead they just told people to avoid fats all together. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.360 And that's why, strangely enough, it actually fell to the 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.680 avocado growers to educate the public about the fruit's true 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:11.920 nutritional value. So in the late eighties, the California Avocado Commission. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.280 They worked closely with researchers and funded all sorts of 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.199 studies on the health benefits of their product. And then 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.520 the grower spread the good news with a TV ad 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.800 campaign and it starred Angie Dickinson, and the ads were 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.720 a huge hit, but they were also pretty scandalous for 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:30.000 the time. So here's what the ad was. It showed 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.680 Angie stretched out in these gold stilettos and a white 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.200 leotard and she was eating half an avocado with a spooch. Sure, 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.400 And after she lays out how tasty and nutritious the 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:43.000 avocados are, she turns to the camera and asked, would 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.080 this body lie to you? I had forgotten where I 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:47.840 got that line from. I know I used that line 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.320 a lot, I didn't remember that Angie had created that. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.560 I mean, I guess the nutrition experts were wrong to 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.840 doubt the American public like, we can absolutely understand the 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.319 health benefits of avocados as long as they're explained to 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.760 us by beautiful movie star. So I do feel like 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.000 uh Kanye as I'm about to say this because Angie Dickinson, 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:08.240 you did a good job, and I'm gonna let you finish. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.360 But mister Ripe Guy is the best spokesperson in the 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:12.440 avocado industry. 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:14.960 I can't say I'm familiar with his work. So who 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:16.160 is mister Ripe Guy? 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.720 I can't believe you're asking me that. No. This goes 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.880 back to the avocados struggle. So after surviving the anti 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.800 fat movement of the eighties, sales were still suffering to 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.840 the public's lack of knowledge about the fruit. So one 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.280 prime example is that people weren't even sure when to 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.200 eat avocados. People kept trying to eat them when they 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.920 were like bright green, because that's when they looked the prettiest, 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:39.679 instead of waiting until the fruit to turn like a 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.840 murky brown color, and that's actually when it's most delicious 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.960 or the ripest to eat. But to combat the problem, 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.200 the Avocado Commission partnered with an ad agency and created 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:54.520 their very own mascot, mister Ripe Guy. And in true 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:59.080 eighties fashion, this California character was basically just an anthropomorphic 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.320 avocado with a pair of sunglasses on. 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:03.920 Wait, you know what this reminds me of? And I 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.560 collected all of these from I can't remember whether it 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.480 was McDonald's or Hearty's or what it was, but you 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:10.959 remember the California. 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.320 Raisin definitely, So it definitely feels like a California raisin 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.920 rip off. But someone would show up in an avocada 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.160 suit at various events, and this was around the country. 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.120 They'd share tips as mister Ripe guy on how to 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.800 pick and prep avocados and just generally sing the fruits praises. 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:29.160 But the best part of the campaign was in nineteen 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.960 ninety five when the Commission launched a nationwide search to 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.480 find Miss Ripe, and women were encouraged to mail and 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.559 video cassettes of themselves explaining why they deserved this coveted honor, 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.400 and apparently the winner would receive a free trip to 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.959 Hollywood and a walk on roll on Baywatch Nights. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.199 I like cut didn't even occur to them that maybe 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.960 they should win a lifetime supply of avocados. I feel 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.400 like maybe they didn't think through this campaign fully. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.240 Yeah, I mean maybe they would have gotten more people 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.000 to enter, but in the end, least one woman was 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.440 interested in what was on offer. The lucky winner was 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.840 Robin nardone of Chicago who I'm sure you remember, and 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.800 he told reporters, going to be Miss Ripe is like 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.600 a dream come true. I will bear the title proudly. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.320 That's really sweet. And of course everybody still talks about 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:20.040 that episode of Baywatch Nights that she was on, right, definitely. Well, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.200 I'm curious, so did these kinds of stunts pay off 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:23.160 for avocado growers. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.400 Well, it's hard to say exactly how much of the 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.960 industry's growth is due to mister and missus Ripe guy, 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.480 but there's no doubt that the avocado consumption has gone 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.880 way way off since the nineties. For example, by nineteen 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.560 ninety nine, the average American was eating about one point 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.200 five pounds of avocado per year, whereas in twenty sixteen 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.360 that number had actually grown to seven point one pounds 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.720 per year according to USDA. Yeah, and to put that 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:50.600 in perspective, the hass Avocado Board reported that four hundred 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.640 and eighty four million avocados were consumed in two thousand, 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.160 which sounds like a lot, right, But you fast forward 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.440 to twenty twelve and the total had risen to nearly 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.840 one point five billion, which is basically a three hundred 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:03.640 percent increase over just a decade. 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.880 I mean, that is pretty amazing. It's also pretty amazing 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.680 that it's taken us this long to finally mention the 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.600 H word. So I do want to shift gears and 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.840 talk about what is undoubtedly the biggest name in the business, 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.920 and that's the Hass avocado. Now, I know we need 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.520 to explore how the variety came to dominate the market, 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.080 as well as what that monopoly might be causing us 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:24.840 to miss out. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.000 On, which sounds good. But before we get into it, 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:42.120 let's take a quick break. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.000 You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking all 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.440 things avocado, Okay, mango. So we've been charting the course 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:51.320 of how misunderstood fruit like the avocado wound up as 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.360 one of the world's trendiout superfoods. And so now we're 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:56.960 getting to what's probably my favorite part of the story, 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:01.200 which is the contribution of a Californian mailman named Rudolph Hass. 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.000 And while this story isn't widely known, I'm willing to 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.800 bet that the name sounds familiar to most of our listeners, 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.480 and for very good reason, because Hass avocados are hands 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.920 down the most popular avocado, not only in the country, 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.719 but in the entire world. In fact, there's a good 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.719 chance that most people have only ever eaten the hass avocado. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.760 And that's because ninety five percent of the avocados sold 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.040 in the US and about eighty percent worldwide are hass avocados. 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.120 I'm honestly not sure I could even name a different 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:28.880 kind of avocado. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.520 Well, here's what's crazy, though, is that there's actually more 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:35.520 than nine hundred varieties of avocados. You know, some of 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.320 these things have very different shapes and textures and flavors 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.560 than that single type that we're used to. But thankfully, 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.120 the one type we do have is a pretty good one. 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.720 Hass avocados have a strong flavor, they're packed with healthy oil, 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.000 so it's not like we're getting the short end of 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.600 the stick on this. And there's a reason Hass is 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.600 the most popular name in avocados, even if that popularity 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.320 does result in a real lack of diversity on the 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:00.000 store shelves. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:02.920 So speaking of the name, this is sort of embarrassing. 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:04.760 But I used to think that Hass was just the 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:06.960 name of the family farm or like the company that 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.240 grew them, you know, like Dole or Chikita. But I 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:11.960 didn't know it was actually a fruit variety. 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.760 Yeah, and I don't think most people do know that. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.880 But so to get back to that, let's get back 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.760 to Rudolph Hass and he was a postman by trade 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.880 in the nineteen twenties and then got into horticulture after 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.240 he saw this magazine ad that showed an avocado tree 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.240 with dollar bills growing out of it. I mean, that 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.440 sounds pretty convincing. So he was hoping to make some 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.480 money on the side and started buying up seeds and 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.200 raising these resulting trees at his family home. And this 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.440 was just outside of La so he was grassed from 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.640 the larger plants to multiply that crop. But there was 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:47.400 one seedling in particulars He described it a stubborn baby 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.040 tree grown from a Guatemalan seed of unknown parentage, or 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.840 that's how one local newspaper put it. That it wouldn't 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.200 accept a graph no matter how hard has tried. He 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.200 considered cutting it down, but instead he just said to 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.040 decide and let it grow unattended as a somewhat of 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.840 an experiment. And this turned out to be the best 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.640 decision of Hass's life, because when the tree finally bore fruit. 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.480 It's avocado's tasted better than any other of the varieties available. 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.040 Well, I mean, first of all, i just love that 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.320 the world's most popular avocado is a result of like 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.880 dumb luck. But also I'm really curious about these other 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.840 varieties that predate the Hass, Like what were the go 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.120 to avocados at the time, and what made the Hass 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:29.160 one so much better. 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.800 Well, at the time, the prevailing avocado was called the fuerte, 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.680 which means strong and Spanish. And admittedly, the fuerte looks 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.840 more appetizing than the hass. You know, you don't have 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.400 that bumpy, thick, black skin of the hass. The fuerte 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:46.120 avocado has more of a smooth and kind of a 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.000 thin skin, and it actually turns a green color as 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.760 it ripens. But you know, when you think about taste, 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:55.760 Hass avocados are way richer and nuttier and creamier than 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.680 the fuertes, And so this gave them a big advantage 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.640 in Rudolph Hass's mind. But of course taste wasn't the 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.560 only thing they had going for them. Another big advantage 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:06.960 is that the Hass avocado trees were easier to grow 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.320 than the fuerte trees. They also have longer harvest seasons 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.800 than other avocados, and they can produce larger quantities of 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.920 fruit after just a couple of years. But there's one 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.560 thing that's maybe even more important than all of those things, 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.639 and that's that these avocados are easy to handle and 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.520 even ship long distances. And that's thanks to that alligator 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.439 thick skin that we were talking about before. So when 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.280 Rudolph Hass realized that he'd stumbled upon something special, he 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.280 patented his tree in nineteen thirty five and started working 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.600 with a local grower to promote this new variety. 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.000 You know, it's funny when you're talking about the packability 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.479 of these avocados. You think about other fruit like the 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.879 red Delicious or the cavendish bananas, and they are always 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.720 sacrificing flavor for that durability, and it's amazing to think 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.040 that the avocado doesn't do that. But yeah, I don't 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.120 think I realized you could actually patten a tree. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.560 Well I didn't neither, and apparently neither did anybody else, 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.200 because you know, sadly the patent was all but ignored 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.800 by its competitors. In fact, this is how Rudolph's granddaughter 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.720 Cindy Miller, explained the ordeal in an article about her 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.280 family's story. She writes, since it was the first patent 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.920 ever issued on a tree, it got no respect. Growers 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.840 would buy one from mister Brokaw, who had the exclusive 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.320 right to produce the nursery trees. They would then regraph 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.160 their whole grove with the budwood from that one tree. 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.480 For that reason, Rudolph has made only five thousand dollars 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.359 in royalties on his first patent. 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.399 That's pretty insane, like five grand for coming up with 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.280 the world's tastiest avocado. 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.560 It's crazy. Yeah, it's a weird story, but there is 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.199 a silver lining for that name. So the avocados that 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.399 bear his name have become ubiquitous with the fruit, and 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:47.959 today millions of his trees can now be found all 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.600 over the globe. And maybe the craziest part about this 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.720 whole thing is that all of those trees are genetically 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.720 descended from that single mother tree that has planted on 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.400 his property, and that was nearly one hundred years ago. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.000 In fact, it's estimated that about eighty percent of all 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.800 US avocados are descendants of the hass avocado mother tree. 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.280 I mean, that's just so weird to think about. And 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:12.000 the original tree actually lasted quite a while too. It 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.919 was on that Hass property until it finally lost the 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.280 battle with something called root rot disease, and that was 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:21.000 back in two thousand and two. But according to Alice Obscura, 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:23.840 you can still make a pilgrimage to see the preserved 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.720 woods from the tree at the Brokaw Nursery and Ventura 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.280 and there's even a plaque there to market it's original 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:30.920 location in Lejabra. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.480 Which I think that takes care of my summer vacation 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:38.920 plans for the good good. But you know, Hass having 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.159 his patent undermine like that kind of reminds me of 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.439 something weird I noticed while researching, and that's the sheer 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.679 volume of crime that the fruit detracts. Like I wouldn't 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.359 think this before, but you know, you mentioned earlier that 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.600 avocados were worth equivalent of what like five dollars each 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.960