Avocado trees are a bit like divas. They require specific soil and climate conditions to produce the best results. Sure, they’ll show up in a lot of places, but they won’t really sing until they’ve been given the respect that they demand (only blue M &M’s backstage, please). At AvocadoOrganic, we’ve found that our trees produce high quality fruit if we pay people to sit in the groves and tell them that the other farms' trees are over produced and most definitely not organic. Not really... but we would if it meant that our organic avocado trees could grow an even better product. That is how dedicated we are to cultivating California avocados that stand out above the rest.  

The science is still out on complimenting avocado trees, but we do know that the science on ideal avocado environment, picking, packing, and delivery methods is solid. The influence of these four factors can have a huge affect throughout the maturation of an avocado fruit. Here are 5 differences of our avocados compared to the typical avocados at the grocery store.

1. Fallbrook, CA: the avocado capital of the world for a reason. 

Our trees (and our family) are rooted in Fallbrook, California. Fallbrook has sandy loam soil that drains well and our trees are tucked into bed by the marine layer that slips in off the coast. Avocado trees produce the best fruit when provided with this exact type of soil/climate combination. There is a reason our family farm is nestled just up the road from "The Avocado Highway."

2. Don't Panic, it's Organic!

We make sure that our farming practices strictly adhere to organic standards so that you can have peace of mind when it comes to what’s in your avocado and how its production affected our planet. We confidently proclaim that our organic avocados come from healthy, happy trees that are capable and willing to give us the best fruit to pass on to our customers.  

3. We don’t use machines to pick our avocados.

We embody the definition of farm-to-table. Machines can't discern from the various stages of an avocado, and they certainly aren't delicate about it. We don't pick your avocados until you order them. We gently hand select the fruits that have reached their full potential and are ready for their trip to your home.

Avocados benefit from a gentle handling process because they are sensitive (just like divas!) and bruise during machine picking, processing, and bin storage. Bruised avocados can develop imperfections and appear ripe when they aren’t. At our farm, picking, washing, and packing is carried out by hand so that we can ensure that each and every avocado meets our standards when they arrive at your door. Large scale operators aren’t suited to this kind of attention to detail.

Sure, it is a little more work for us, but it's worth it because it allows us to avoid the rough machine handling, storage practices, and ripening processes that large scale operations have to use. 

4. No gas.

Avocados that are sourced from large scale operators are stored in bins and pre-ripened with ethylene gas.  We never gas our avocados. We let nature run its course while our avocados work their way to your table. 

5.  Bigger is better.

The typical grocery store's avocado weighs in at approximately 6.5 ounces while the AvocadoOrganic avocado weighs in at about 8.5 ounces. Our environment and production practices encourage maximum growth. Our hand selection process affords us the ability to pick only the fruits that have reached their growth potential. The ones that aren't quite there yet can be left alone to grow until they are ready for action. Large scale operators can't do this. They are forced to indiscriminately pick avocados that haven't quite hit maturation. So, when the typical grocery store receives their avocados from large scale operations, they're a bit on the wimpy side. Our avocados are never wimpy. Each avocado yields more fruit than the average grocery store avocado, which means less to purchase and prepare...which means more smiles at your dinner table!

Our family run farm is dedicated to providing the best California organic avocado experience around.  We focus on the principle of quality, not quantity, and it shows each time one of our customers opens their hand selected box of avocados that have been allowed to develop to their full potential.