Welcome to California Avocados at CaliforniaAvocados.com

Welcome to CaliforniaAvocados.com! We love California Avocados for their taste, their health benefits and their variety of uses. We also love where they are grown in beautiful Southern California. On this site you will find some useful California Avocado links.

If you visiting California Avocado Country - San Diego, Fallbrook, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Carpinteria or any other avocado areas - you will see some of the most beautiful places in California.

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California & Avocados

There are no records that indicate exactly when avocados made their way to California, though it was most likely in the 1850's. It was reported by the 1856 California State Agricultural Society Report that Thomas J. White grew the avocado in Los Angeles. Old avocado trees were planted near the Mission Santa Cruz and the oldest living tree can be found at the University of California - Berkeley. Many of the avocado trees of Southern California are descendents of trees planted by people from Mexico and Guatemala.

It is generally accepted that the avocado industry began in 1911 when Frederick Popenoe sent Carl Schmidt into Mexico to find better varieties for his nursery, in Altadena, California. Schmidt would locate what would be named the Fuerte (spanish for strong) Avocado in Atlixco, Mexico. The Fuerte proved to be of superior quality and one which adapted well to temperature changes.

In 1912, J.T. ’Grandpa’ Whedon, of Yorba Linda in Orange County sold his pigs and purchased five acres of land and decided to become an avocado grower, much to the displeasure of his wife. Grandpa ordered forty avocado trees from Frederick Popenoe's nursery. Grandpa travelled to the nursery to claim his trees, but when he arrived he was told his trees were killed in a freeze. Frederick was not able to return all of the money that Grandpa had paid, so Grandpa took some scrawny little avocado trees back instead. His orchard would be blessed and he would reap great rewards and had world’s first Fuerte avocado grove. For more detailed information read:

Think Avocados by Frank Koch

All About Avocados by Linda Stradley