Hass avocados for sale at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles
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Mark Ralston
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
Hass avocados have been on plates around the world, but did you know they came from a single tree in California?
A mail carrier’s curiosity: In 1926, a mail carrier and amateur botanist named Rudolph Hass got three avocado seedlings from a Whittier nursery. He planted them on his La Habra Heights property, thinking that they were a Guatemalan variety. But once the tree grew, the fruit was starkly different from anything he’d seen.
How the variety became popular: Once he tried the fruit, the rich and nutty flavor stood out to him. Hass decided to partner with a local nursery and patented the variety in hopes of selling the seedlings for a profit.
Did Hass make money? While the avocado industry as a whole is worth billions today, Hass had only made about $4,800 when his plant patent expired.
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.
A cut open Hass avocado.
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Mark Ralston
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AFP via Getty Images
)
The Hass origin story
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.
An undated view overlooking terraced avocado fields in La Habra.
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Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
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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.
Plant patent
He eventually filed for a U.S. plant patent in 1935, naming the variety after himself, and partnered with a local nursery to sell and promote his avocados.
They also informed dictionary publishers that the plural was “avocados,” and not “avocadoes.”
Other terms used for avocado have included “alligator pear,” “midshipman’s butter,” and “agovago pears” (courtesy of George Washington in 1751).
But by the time the patent expired in 1952, Hass only made $4,800. It’s partly because the variety didn’t quite take off until years later, and the deal made with the nursery only gave him 25% of proceeds.
But it slowly caught on. A shortage of fats and oils created by World War II meant people had got used to turning to avocado for its rich fat content.
And the fruit had the perfect make-up for thriving in California. It could grow year-round in our warm climate, while it also shared Mexican fruit genes that imparted some cold tolerance.
Those two qualities, along with its nutty and creamy flavor, helped rocket the Hass avocado to fame in the food industry.
By 1972, Hass surpassed Fuerte as the dominant variety and it’s remained on top since.
First commercial avocados
Early 1900's: California’s first commercial avocado orchard was planted by William Hertrich for the Huntington Family (yes, that Huntington name), using seeds from Atlixco in Mexico.
Great Freeze of 1913The four hundred seedlings he'd planted were damaged when temperatures plunged as low as 18 degrees. The crop was repaired, and a few of these trees are still at the Huntington Library .
While today the Hass avocado is marketed as a California native, genetic testing has shown it’s actually a hybrid comprised of 61% Mexican varieties and about 39% Guatemalan ones.
The original Hass tree went on to live for 76 years, producing many, many seedlings and fruit. But it died of root rot in 2002. Wood from the tree was removed and placed in storage, which the California Avocado Society uses for plaques.
One of William Hertrich's trees at the Huntington.
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Courtesy The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
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Hertrich planted the Persea Americana variety at the Huntington’s request.
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Courtesy The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
