It gets slapped on crunchy toast, and almost always comes with a surcharge: We’re talking avocados. California has dominated the U.S.
avocado industry for decades. We produce around 90% of what’s grown in the nation. Our footprint in the global market is relatively small, but the dominant variety remains the same: the Hass avocado.
That creamy, bumpy-skinned fruit began its journey to stardom in a backyard in Orange County. While avocados originated in southern Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies, Californian Hass avocados can be traced back to a single tree planted in La Habra Heights. In 1926, a mail carrier and amateur botanist got ahold of three avocado seedlings that were thought to be a Guatemalan Lyon variety from a nursery in Whittier.
Rudolph Hass — which is where the fruit variety gets its name — planted the seeds in his grove. The nursery recommended that Hass plant all three, and graft the strongest grower onto a Fuerte avocado tree — then, the industry standard. The grafting didn’t take, and eventually, Hass let the last surviving seedling grow on its own.
Over time, it produced fruit that Hass thought was ugly. Instead of the bright green skin of the popular Fuerte avocado that Americans had come to expect, these ones had a rough purple-black skin. But when his children tasted the flesh inside, they thought it tasted great — nuttier and creamier than the Fuerte.
And when Hass tried it, he agreed. So he got on board. He eventually filed for.