[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Ninety-five percent of the avocados consumed today are of the Hass variety.<\/p>\n
When Rudolph Hass was about to dig up the soil to remove the small avocado tree he had planted in his orchard because it was of no use to him, he was persuaded not to do so.<\/p>\n
It was the late 1920s. He had arrived in Pasadena, outside Los Angeles, in September 1923 with his wife Elizabeth and their 18-month-old daughter Betty. Some of the family, who had already settled in the area, had encouraged them to follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n
They travelled 3,300 kilometres from their native Milwaukee, in the northern United States, in a bumpy ride in an old Ford T that Rudolph had bought from a co-worker in 1920 for US$75 and which arrived in the southwest of the country without a rear wing and with a flat tyre<\/p>\n
Once in California, Rudie, as he was called, first got a job at a fruit and vegetable stand, then became a salesman for a manufacturer of hosiery, underwear and accessories. He sold washing machines and hoovers, until he was hired as a mail carrier by the Pasadena post office.<\/p>\n
That was, according to his wife’s notes, in 1926. Although that text was written decades later and other information in it does not match exactly with documentation that proves it.<\/p>\n
One day, while delivering mail, Rudie saw an ad in a magazine advertising land with avocado trees – called palta in part of South America – from which, according to Elizabeth’s account, banknotes were hanging.<\/p>\n
Hass avocado historian GinaRose Kimball says that the advertisement probably had a bag with dollar signs and an avocado fruit next to it, rather than a money tree.<\/p>\n
California, which while Mexican territory had no avocado plantations, had tentatively begun to grow avocados when in the 1870s three seedlings brought from Mexico were planted in Santa Barbara; half a century later the avocado was being promoted as a promising business in the state.<\/p>\n
Rudie got excited and when he was able to sell a property they owned near Milwaukee, he took the money, borrowed some from a sister and went to the office of the local businessman in Los Angeles he had seen in the ad.<\/p>\n
In California the Hass avocado has one crop a year, but in Mexico it has four, which provides a year-round supply.<\/p>\n
This was Edwin Hart, who had first encountered the avocado in Mexico in the late 19th century and in 1919 bought the La Habra ranch, some 1,500 hectares outside Los Angeles and not far from Pasadena, to grow the fruit and then sell plots.<\/p>\n
Rudie bought a 1.93-acre plot of land – 7,800 square metres – that already had some avocado trees in the rural area that had by then been renamed La Habra Heights. He agreed to pay US$3,800 in quarterly instalments. The initial deposit was US$760.<\/p>\n
“When he bought, he did so with the desire to grow a different variety, possibly Lyon,” Kimball says. That’s a Guatemalan-type variety – large and hard-shelled – that a man named Lyon had planted in Hollywood in the early 1900s and which in its early years seemed to be the most promising. It was common in California at the time for avocado plantation owners to give their surname to each new variety of avocado.<\/p>\n
A Pasadena street in 1925SOURCE OF IMAGE,GETTY IMAGES
Caption,
Pasadena was in full swing in the mid-1920s.<\/p>\n
By the time Rudolph entered the industry, the most common variety was the Fuerte, so named because it survived a fierce frost in California in 1913. This avocado, being of the Mexican type, is characterised by a soft, smooth skin that is easy to peel.<\/p>\n
Horticulturist Albert Rideout had an avocado nursery near La Habra Heights at the time. Whatever avocado seeds he could find, wherever he could find them, he planted them in search of new varieties. He agreed to pay US$3,800 in quarterly instalments. The initial deposit was US$760.<\/p>\n
Rudie went to that nursery and bought a bag of seeds of what they believed to be Guatemalan avocado, which, unlike the Mexican avocado, has a hard shell.<\/p>\n
Failed attempts
Back in his orchard, he took crates of apples that he filled with sawdust and planted the seeds inside. He watered and watered them until they sprouted and, when the stems reached the thickness of a pencil, just over half a centimetre, he transplanted them into the ground and protected them with cardboard.<\/p>\n
Then, with the help of a specialist named Caulkins, he used these new plants to graft shoots taken from Fuerte and Lyon avocado trees.<\/p>\n
This technique is used to reproduce plants but does not involve creating a hybrid of the new with the old; genetic mixtures are formed through pollination. Instead, it seeks to grow new trees of the budding variety. In the case of Rudolph Hass, he wanted new Fuerte and Lyon trees.
But one of the new plants refused to take the grafts. They tried once, it wouldn’t take. A second time, nothing. For each new attempt they had to wait until the right time of year. By the third failure, Rudie had had enough and wanted to remove the new tree from his orchard.<\/p>\n
Caulkins suggested he not kill it, just leave it there.<\/p>\n
Nasty-looking avocados
Page from a family memoir written by Elizabeth Hass.IMAGE SOURCE,HASS FAMILY
Caption,
Elizabeth Hass wrote the family memoir in a notebook and included the story of the creation of the Hass avocado.<\/p>\n
In 1931 the plant produced its first six avocados. By the following year there were 125.<\/p>\n
They were dark on the outside, a mixture of black and purple, with rough skin, and made an unpleasant, rotten impression. They had nothing to do with the bright green skin of the avocados they were used to eating in California.<\/p>\n
But her children tasted them and liked them very much. They were creamy inside, with a high oil content, a good consistency – it was not fibrous – and a nutty aftertaste. That’s where Rudie saw the commercial vein.<\/p>\n
“Rudolph, in addition to having a full-time job, was a salesman. He would send kids out to the corner at West Road and Hacienda Road with wooden crates to sell avocados. He sold wherever he could: to his friends, to his co-workers at the post office,” Kimball recounts.<\/p>\n
Plaque recognising Rudolph Hass’s contribution to the California avocado industry, placed next to the Hass avocado mother tree.IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Caption,
The California Avocado Society and the state historical society recognised Rudolph Hass’s contribution to the industry with a plaque placed next to the mother tree in La Habra Heights. The tree is no longer there, it died in 2002 and was cut down, but the plaque remains.<\/p>\n
He struggled at first because of the look, but gradually more and more people were won over.<\/p>\n
“Mr. Carter from the avocado company came and encouraged Rudie to do a test. He mailed a box to Chicago and back (…) and when he returned they were still solid,” his wife wrote in the family memoir.<\/p>\n
That got him excited, because until then the avocado shipments sent to the northeast of the country arrived in poor condition, overripe or with bruises that accelerated their rotting.<\/p>\n
The Hass legacy
In 1935 he decided to patent his avocado as a new variety and named it after himself. He then partnered with Harold Brokaw, Rideout’s uncle with large plantations in the area, to expand Hass production.<\/p>\n
Drawing of the Hass avocado included in the patent granted in 1935.
Caption,
Rudolph Hass was granted a patent for his avocado variety in 1935.<\/p>\n
It was not a big deal. By August 1952, when the patent rights expired, Rudie had earned only about US$4,800.<\/p>\n
“The name stuck, but the money never came,” says Jeff Hass, one of his grandsons.<\/p>\n
In June 1952 he had retired from his job at the post office and, in gratitude after more than a quarter century as an employee, the Pasadena post office announced it would give him a certificate of appreciation.<\/p>\n
That got him excited, because until then the avocado shipments sent to the northeast of the country arrived in poor condition, overripe or with bruises that accelerated their rotting.<\/p>\n
In November of that year the certificate arrived, but Rudie had died a month earlier of a heart attack.<\/p>\n
The Hass variety now accounts for 95% of the avocados produced in the world, according to Peter Shore, vice president of product management at Calavo, a company founded by California avocado growers. And it is a multi-billion dollar industry.<\/p>\n
Fruit and vegetable market in Mexico selling avocados.IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Caption,
Mexico is the world’s largest producer of avocados and Hass avocados specifically.<\/p>\n
“There are millions and millions of Hass avocado trees, and they all come from that original tree,” Shore says. after more than a quarter-century as an employee, the Pasadena post office announced it would give him a certificate of appreciation.<\/p>\n
That got him excited, because until then the avocado shipments sent to the northeast of the country arrived in poor condition, overripe or with bruises that accelerated their rotting.<\/p>\n
Rudie cre\u00eda que su aguacate Hass era del tipo guatemalteco, pero un estudio publicado en 2019 sobre su genoma asegur\u00f3 que el origen de este fruto es 61% mexicano y 39% guatemalteco.<\/p>\n
Rudie believed his Hass avocado was a Guatemalan type, but a study published in 2019 on its genome found that the fruit’s origin is 61% Mexican and 39% Guatemalan.<\/p>\n
“The Mexican genes allow Hass to reach maturity earlier than pure Guatemalan cultivars and give more cold tolerance to the tree and fruit, although not as much as a pure Mexican cultivar. The Guatemalan genes give the fruit a thicker skin, but thin enough to peel easily,” notes the book Avocado Production in California. A Cultural Handbook for Growers, published by the University of California and the California Avocado Society.<\/p>\n
The mother tree eventually became diseased and had to be cut down in 2002.<\/p>\n
PUBLISHED BY BBC World<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ninety-five percent of the avocados consumed today are of the Hass variety. When Rudolph Hass was about to dig up the soil to remove the small avocado tree he had planted in his orchard because it was of no use to him, he was persuaded not to do so. It was the late 1920s. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" \u00c1rbol de aguacates Hass en Colombia.FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,GETTY IMAGES Cuando Rudolph Hass iba a excavar la tierra para retirar aquel peque\u00f1o \u00e1rbol de aguacates que hab\u00eda plantado en su huerta porque no le serv\u00eda de nada, lo convencieron de que no lo hiciera.<\/p> Era finales de la d\u00e9cada de 1920. Hab\u00eda llegado a Pasadena, en las afueras de Los \u00c1ngeles, en septiembre de 1923 junto a su esposa Elizabeth y la hija de ambos, Betty, de 18 meses. Parte de la familia, que ya se hab\u00eda instalado en la zona, los hab\u00eda impulsado a seguir sus pasos.<\/p> Viajaron 3.300 kil\u00f3metros desde su natal Milwaukee, en el norte de Estados Unidos, en un accidentado recorrido a bordo de un viejo Ford T que Rudolph le hab\u00eda comprado a un compa\u00f1ero de trabajo en 1920 por US$75 y que lleg\u00f3 al suroeste del pa\u00eds sin el guardabarros trasero y con una rueda pinchada.<\/p> Ya en California, Rudie, como lo llamaban, primero consigui\u00f3 trabajo en un puesto de frutas y verduras, luego fue vendedor para un fabricante de medias, ropa interior y accesorios. Vendi\u00f3 lavarropas y aspiradoras, hasta que fue contratado como cartero por la oficina postal de Pasadena.<\/p> PUBLICIDAD<\/p> Eso ocurri\u00f3, seg\u00fan los apuntes de su esposa, en 1926. Aunque aquel texto fue escrito d\u00e9cadas m\u00e1s tarde y otros datos all\u00ed incluidos no coinciden exactamente con documentaci\u00f3n que los prueba.<\/p> Saltar Recomendamos y continuar leyendo Un d\u00eda, mientras repart\u00eda correspondencia, Rudie vio un aviso en una revista que publicitaba terrenos con \u00e1rboles de aguacate -llamada palta en parte de Sudam\u00e9rica- de los que colgaban billetes, seg\u00fan la versi\u00f3n de Elizabeth.<\/p> GinaRose Kimball, historiadora del aguacate Hass, afirma que probablemente aquel anuncio, m\u00e1s que un \u00e1rbol de dinero, ten\u00eda una bolsa con el s\u00edmbolo de d\u00f3lares y uno de estos frutos a su lado.<\/p> California, que mientras fue territorio mexicano no ten\u00eda plantaciones de aguacates, hab\u00eda comenzado t\u00edmidamente a cultivarlos cuando en la d\u00e9cada de 1870 tres pl\u00e1ntulas llevadas desde M\u00e9xico fueron plantadas en Santa B\u00e1rbara; medio siglo despu\u00e9s el aguacate era promovido como un negocio promisorio en el estado.<\/p> Rudie se entusiasm\u00f3 y cuando pudo vender una propiedad que ten\u00edan cerca de Milwaukee, tom\u00f3 el dinero, le pidi\u00f3 otro tanto prestado a una hermana y fue a la oficina de aquel empresario local en Los \u00c1ngeles que hab\u00eda visto en el anuncio.<\/p> Cosecha de aguacates Hass en M\u00e9xico.FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,GETTY IMAGES Se trataba de Edwin Hart, quien hab\u00eda conocido el aguacate en M\u00e9xico a finales del siglo XIX y en 1919 compr\u00f3 el rancho La Habra, de unas 1.500 hect\u00e1reas en las afueras de Los \u00c1ngeles y no muy lejos de Pasadena, para sembrar aquel fruto y luego vender parcelas.<\/p> Rudie adquiri\u00f3 un terreno de 1,93 acres -7.800 metros cuadrados- que ya contaba con algunos \u00e1rboles de aguacate en aquella zona rural que para entonces hab\u00eda sido rebautizada como La Habra Heights. Acord\u00f3 pagar US$3.800 en cuotas trimestrales. El dep\u00f3sito inicial fue de US$760.<\/p> \"Cuando compr\u00f3, lo hizo con el deseo de cultivar una variedad diferente, posiblemente Lyon\", cuenta Kimball. Esa es una variedad de tipo guatemalteca -de gran tama\u00f1o y c\u00e1scara dura- que un hombre de apellido Lyon hab\u00eda plantado en Hollywood a principios del 1900 y que en sus primeros a\u00f1os parec\u00eda ser la m\u00e1s prometedora. Lo habitual en California por entonces era que los due\u00f1os de las plantaciones de aguacate le pusieran su apellido a cada nueva variedad del fruto.<\/p> Una calle de Pasadena en 1925FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,GETTY IMAGES Para cuando Rudolph emprendi\u00f3 en el rubro, la variedad m\u00e1s com\u00fan era la Fuerte, denominada as\u00ed por haber sobrevivido a una feroz helada ocurrida en California en 1913. Ese aguacate, por ser de tipo mexicano, se caracteriza por tener una c\u00e1scara blanda y lisa, f\u00e1cil de pelar.<\/p> El horticultor Albert Rideout ten\u00eda por entonces un vivero especializado en aguacates cerca de La Habra Heights. Cualquier semilla que encontrara de aguacate, donde fuera, la plantaba en busca de nuevas variedades.<\/p> Rudie fue a ese vivero y le compr\u00f3 una bolsa semillas de lo que cre\u00edan era aguacate guatemalteco, que a diferencia del mexicano es de c\u00e1scara dura.<\/p> Intentos fallidos Luego, con la ayuda de un especialista de apellido Caulkins, utiliz\u00f3 esas nuevas plantas para injertar brotes tomados de \u00e1rboles de aguacate Fuerte y Lyon.<\/p> Esa t\u00e9cnica se utiliza para reproducir plantas pero no implica crear un h\u00edbrido de la nueva con la vieja; las mezclas gen\u00e9ticas se conforman a trav\u00e9s de la polinizaci\u00f3n. En cambio, busca hacer crecer nuevos \u00e1rboles de la variedad del brote. En el caso de Rudolph Hass, quer\u00eda nuevos \u00e1rboles de Fuerte y Lyon.<\/p> Pero una de las nuevas plantas se negaba a recibir esos injertos. Intentaron una vez, no prend\u00edan. Una segunda vez, nada. Para cada nuevo intento deb\u00edan esperar a la \u00e9poca del a\u00f1o en que se debe hacer. Al tercer fracaso, Rudie se cans\u00f3 y quiso quitar el nuevo \u00e1rbol de su huerta.<\/p> Caulkins le sugiri\u00f3 que no lo matara, que lo dejara ah\u00ed.<\/p> Aguacates de aspecto desagradable En 1931 esa planta dio sus primeros seis aguacates. Para el a\u00f1o siguiente ya fueron 125.<\/p> Eran oscuros por fuera, mezcla de negro con p\u00farpura, con piel rugosa, y causaban una impresi\u00f3n desagradable, como de podrido. Nada que ver con la c\u00e1scara verde brillante de los aguacates que acostumbraban a comer en California.<\/p> Pero sus hijos los probaron y les gustaron mucho. Por dentro eran cremosos, con alto contenido oleaginoso, de buena consistencia -no era fibrosa- y con un dejo a nuez. Ah\u00ed Rudie vio la veta comercial.<\/p> \"Rudolph, adem\u00e1s de tener un trabajo de tiempo completo, era un vendedor. Enviaba a los ni\u00f1os a la esquina, en West Road y Hacienda Road, con cajas de madera para vender los aguacates. Vendi\u00f3 donde pudo: a sus amigos, a sus compa\u00f1eros de trabajo en la oficina de correos\", relata Kimball.<\/p> Placa de reconocimiento a la contribuci\u00f3n de Rudolph Hass a la industria del aguacate de California, colocada al lado del \u00e1rbol madre de aguacates Hass.FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,GETTY IMAGES Al principio le costaba debido al aspecto, pero poco a poco fue convenciendo a m\u00e1s gente.<\/p> \"El se\u00f1or Carter, de la compa\u00f1\u00eda de aguacates, vino y alent\u00f3 a Rudie a hacer una prueba. Envi\u00f3 por correo una caja a Chicago ida y vuelta (...) y al regreso todav\u00eda estaban s\u00f3lidos\", escribi\u00f3 su esposa en el cuaderno de memorias familiares.<\/p> Eso lo entusiasm\u00f3, ya que hasta ese entonces la carga de aguacates enviada al noreste del pa\u00eds llegaba en malas condiciones, por dem\u00e1s madura o con golpes que aceleraban su putrefacci\u00f3n.<\/p> El legado de Hass Dibujo del aguacate Hass incluido en la patente otorgada en 1935. No fue un gran negocio. Para agosto de 1952, cuando los derechos por patente vencieron, Rudie hab\u00eda ganado apenas unos US$4.800.<\/p> \"Se mantuvo el nombre, pero el dinero nunca vino\", dice Jeff Hass, uno de sus nietos.<\/p> En junio de 1952 se hab\u00eda jubilado de su trabajo en el correo y, en agradecimiento tras m\u00e1s de un cuarto de siglo como empleado, la oficina postal de Pasadena le anunci\u00f3 que le dar\u00eda un certificado de reconocimiento.<\/p> En noviembre de ese a\u00f1o el certificado lleg\u00f3, pero Rudie hab\u00eda muerto un mes antes de un ataque al coraz\u00f3n.<\/p> La variedad Hass representa hoy el 95% de los aguacates producidos en el mundo, de acuerdo a Peter Shore, vicepresidente de gerenciamiento de producto de Calavo, empresa fundada por los cultivadores de aguacate de California. Y es una industria multimillonaria.<\/p> Mercado de frutas y verduras en M\u00e9xico con venta de aguacates.FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,GETTY IMAGES \"Hay millones y millones de \u00e1rboles de aguacate Hass, y todos provienen de ese \u00e1rbol original\", afirma Shore.<\/p> Rudie cre\u00eda que su aguacate Hass era del tipo guatemalteco, pero un estudio publicado en 2019 sobre su genoma asegur\u00f3 que el origen de este fruto es 61% mexicano y 39% guatemalteco.<\/p> \"Los genes mexicanos permiten que Hass alcance la madurez antes que los cultivares guatemaltecos puros y otorgan m\u00e1s tolerancia al fr\u00edo al \u00e1rbol y la fruta, aunque no tanto como un cultivar mexicano puro. Los genes guatemaltecos le dan una piel m\u00e1s gruesa a la fruta, pero lo suficientemente delgada como para pelarla f\u00e1cilmente\", se\u00f1ala el libro Avocado Production in California. A Cultural Handbook for Growers, publicado por la Universidad de California y la Sociedad de Aguacates de California.<\/p> El \u00e1rbol madre termin\u00f3 enfermando y en 2002 debi\u00f3 ser talado.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
Pie de foto,
El 95% de los aguacates que se consumen hoy en d\u00eda son de la variedad Hass.<\/p>
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Un \u00e1rbol de dinero
Rudolph y Elizabeth Hass frente al \u00e1rbol madre de aguacates Hass.FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,FAMILIA HASS
Pie de foto,
Rudolph Hass y su esposa Elizabeth frente al \u00e1rbol madre de aguacates Hass. Se conocieron en 1918 en una iglesia y al a\u00f1o siguiente se casaron, cuando \u00e9l ten\u00eda 27 y ella 19.<\/p>
Pie de foto,
En California el aguacate Hass tiene una cosecha al a\u00f1o, pero en M\u00e9xico tiene cuatro, lo que provee de oferta durante todo el a\u00f1o.<\/p>
Pie de foto,
Pasadena estaba en pleno desarrollo a mediados de la d\u00e9cada de 1920.<\/p>
De regreso a su huerta, tom\u00f3 cajones de manzanas que rellen\u00f3 con aserr\u00edn y dentro plant\u00f3 las semillas. Las reg\u00f3 y reg\u00f3 hasta que brotaron y, cuando los tallos alcanzaron el grosor de un l\u00e1piz, algo m\u00e1s de medio cent\u00edmetro, las trasplant\u00f3 en el suelo y las protegi\u00f3 con cartones.<\/p>
P\u00e1gina del cuaderno de memorias familiares escrito por Elizabeth Hass.FUENTE DE LA IMAGEN,FAMILIA HASS
Pie de foto,
Elizabeth Hass escribi\u00f3 las memorias familiares en un cuaderno e incluy\u00f3 la historia de la creaci\u00f3n del aguacate Hass.<\/p>
Pie de foto,
La sociedad de aguacates de California y la sociedad hist\u00f3rica del estado reconocieron la contribuci\u00f3n de Rudolph Hass a la industria con una placa colocada al lado del \u00e1rbol madre en La Habra Heights. El \u00e1rbol ya no est\u00e1, muri\u00f3 en 2002 y fue talado, pero la placa permanece all\u00ed.<\/p>
En 1935 decidi\u00f3 patentar su aguacate como una nueva variedad y le puso su apellido. Despu\u00e9s se asoci\u00f3 con Harold Brokaw, t\u00edo de Rideout con grandes plantaciones en la zona, para expandir la producci\u00f3n de Hass.<\/p>
Pie de foto,
Rudolph Hass obtuvo la patente de su variedad de aguacates en 1935.<\/p>
Pie de foto,
M\u00e9xico es el mayor productor mundial de aguacates y de aguacates Hass espec\u00edficamente.<\/p>