We use it to enrich salads, to flavor toasted sandwiches, it has always gone well with prawns, it is an excellent complement to a plate of sushi or a hamburger, indispensable for the base of some sauces such as the famous guacamole, for cocktails such as Daiquiri, to give creaminess to smoothies and smoothies, versatile in the kitchen for a thousand condiments, and also as a substitute for butter in the vegan preparations of creams, cakes, biscuits, mousses and desserts. Not to mention his healthy effects and the thousand uses that are made of it in cosmetics.
The fruit is a vitamin concentrate. In 100 grams, there are 18 mg of vitamin C, 6,4 mg of vitamin E, 1,1 mg of vitamin B3, 0,12 mg of vitamin B2, 0,09 mg of vitamin B1. Contains higher amounts of vitamin D than those found in butter or eggs. Turning to minerals instead, it is a good source of: potassium (450 mg), phosphorus (44 mg), calcium (13 mg), iron (0,6 mg), sodium (2 mg) Furthermore, the pulp is a source of sterols and volatile acids. And that's not all because even the avocado seed is rich in nutrients; inside there are above all fatty acids, alcohols and a series of unsaturated compounds. In the leaves of the Mexican avocado there is instead an essential oil containing estragole and anethole, very useful in cosmetics
Avocado has become for ten years now the absolute protagonist of our table, the more trendy fruita, symbol of the millennials. And on July 31, a world holiday was dedicated to him, which is celebrated on all continents.
The data is impressive. THE avocado consumption throughout Europe, is around 700.00 tons per year, 100.000 more than the previous year. In Italy there is an incredible boom: sales even mark a +92,2% growth in the last year for a volume of business which amounts to a good 6,5 million euros. This is supported by the World Avocado Organization (WAO)
Not even the pandemic stopped him. Just Eat (www.justeat.it), the leading app for ordering food online throughout Italy and the world, is part of Just Eat Takeaway.com, a giant on the home food delivery market present in Italy since 2011 and which today it works with over 22.000 partner restaurants in more than 1200 municipalities, on the occasion of the World Avocado Day on July 31, analyzed the evolution of avocado orders: over 202.000 kg ordered at home in 2020, with a growth of +68% compared to the previous year. In the first six months of 2021, over 183.000 kg of avocados have already been ordered, showing a growing trend for this year as well.
But what are the most popular Avocado-based dishes? In first place is Uramaki, followed by Temaki. Third place goes to Poke, the trendy healthy dish among young people, followed by two other Japanese specialties, Futomaki and Hosomaki. Followed by Salmon Tartare, Nigiri, Salad, Avocado Burger and Guacamole
Analyzing what emerged from the Observatory, what immediately catches the eye is how Japanese cuisine uses avocado more as the main ingredient in its preparations, leading dishes such as Uramaki and Temaki to be the most orderly at home, with a growth year-on-year by +70% and +51% respectively, as well as Futomaki (+53%), Hosomaki (+44%) and Nigiri (+56%). Although only in third position, the poke is depopulated and registers the highest growth trend, which even shows a leap in requests of +424% and which testifies to a passion for exotic and at the same time healthy dishes.
In addition to the most requested avocado dishes in home orders, there are also growth curves that speak of the new food trends with the greatest increase, such as salmon tartare (+192%), but also the combination of avocado with venere rice , hot sauces like sriracha, hummus, salmon and eggs. Salads (+64%) rich in avocados instead confirm the desire of Italians to enjoy fresh and light dishes at home too.
But there are also some interesting curiosities, such as the presence of new dishes that blend the typical flavors of the Rising Sun with those of South America, in which avocado is combined with spicy sauces, almonds, pistachios, cashews or exotic fruit, as happens at Temakinho, or with those of our local cuisine such as amberjack and sea bass. They then look at the individual cuisines, we discover that in addition to the Japanese one, avocado is also combined in Mexican with exotic fruits such as plantains, becoming one of the favorite ingredients of preparations such as burritos!
Among the cities that most order dishes containing this exotic superfood originally from Latin America, Rome is the undisputed queen of the ranking! In fact, the Eternal City records the highest number of orders, with almost 42.000 kg in 2020 and a growth of +62%, led by Uramaki sake avocado and Uramaki Philadelphia. Second place for Milan (over 21.000 kg), which recorded +69% of requests thanks to Uramaki California and Philadelphia, while closing the podium we find Genoa with 10.200 kg ordered and a growth of +90% in which the avocado burger stands out ! Fourth place for Turin (10.080 kg) with +35% of requests, followed by Bologna (8.860 kg), which sees a growth of +80%. Closing the top 10 of the cities most greedy for avocados are Trieste with 4.670 kg (+56%), Padua with 3.340 kg (+62%), Verona with 2.670 kg (+48%), Florence with 2.560 kg (+53%). ) and Palermo with 2.340 kg (+34%).
Faced with a greater demand from consumers, the home offer also increases. Just Eat, in fact, compared to 2020 records a growth of +66% of restaurants that make avocado the main ingredient of their preparations
Among the cuisines that grew the most in 2020 and which characterize the ever-increasing presence of restaurants that offer avocados on their menus, we find first and foremost poke (+145%). In fact, there are many restaurants that offer this cuisine and which have been born in recent years, such as Pokewaii, Poke House, I Love Poke or Poke @ Home. Then there are vegan cuisine (+133%) and vegetarian (+121%), hamburgers (+84%), Mexican cuisine (+72%), salads (+65%), healthy (+ 61%), Brazilian (+55%), Japanese (+51%) and American (+37%).
