30 



ANNUAL REPORT 1918 AND 1919 



WHEN IS AN AVOCADO RIPE? HOW TO TELL A 

 RIPE FRUIT 



By Mrs. B. H. Sharpless, Santa Ana 



It is not too early in the history of the avocado industry, to agitate 

 the question as to what measures may be taken to prevent the marketing of 

 unripe fruit. 



It will probably be some time, perhaps years, before we may hope 

 for governmental aid in this direction, and, in the meantime, the industry 

 may receive irreparable injury, unless the Avocado Association is able to 

 foster a sentiment against offering immature fruit to the public. 



Such a sentiment is not only a just protection to the purchasing pub- 

 lic but is vital to the life of the industry itself. 



We point with pride and satisfaction to the large amount of valuable 

 work that has been accomplished by way of gathering data as to the best 

 methods of propagating and cultivating the avocado, locations best suited 

 to avocado culture, and above all, the elimination, as a commercial possi- 

 bility, of a hundred or more of the less desirable and worthless varieties. 



This work has been made possible through the sincere interest and 

 unselfish co-operation of the membership of this association, and I think it 

 is not too much to hope that the same interest and co-operative spirit will 

 solve the problems pertaining to the marketing of the fruit. 



Until we, as growers, are able to intelligently answer for ourselves the 

 question, "When is an avocado ripe V we will frequently be confronted by 

 the question from a skeptical public, "Why is an avocado?'* 



Nature has chosen to clothe this choice gift to man in sombre garb, 

 and the public buys the avocado, not because of its appeal to the eye, but 

 on the recommendation of a friend, or because he has experienced for him- 

 self the pleasure and satisfaction of eating the ripe avocado at its best. 



The immature avocado has not the delicate blush of the half ripe 

 strawberry, to catch the eye of the purchaser, or the alluring "sweated gold" 

 of the green orange, nor the flaming invitation of the unripe persimmon. 



Gullible man is enticed again and again to buy these acid, puckering, 

 disappointments, because of his inherent conviction that beauty cannot be 

 false, but one flat, insipid avocado that has been rushed into the market 

 prematurely will make him wary of the most tempting display her worthy 

 sisters can make, in their modest gowns. 



With some varieties of the avocado, the immature fruit mellows evenly 

 after taken from the tree and reaches the public in a very nice condition in 

 so far as appearance is concerned; the flat, watery flavor or "cucumber 

 flavor" being the only evidence that it was picked too soon. 



With other varieties the skin assumes a withered, wrinkled appear- 

 ance, while the flesh mellows evenly, as in the fully ripe fruit. Others never 

 become mellow when taken from the tree too soon but, after a few days 

 become leathery, tough and inedible. 



