As we discussed in Episodes 29 and 30, Rudolph Hass planted and nurtured the amazing avocado cultivar that bears his name. Equally important though less well known in the avocado story was an erstwhile stalwart of the California Avocado Society, A. R. ("Bert") Rideout (1872-1945). In the first years of the 20th century, he established an avocado nursery in Whittier, California. He collected seeds from wherever he could get them, from Central America and Mexico to the garbage bins of fancy Pasadena restaurants that served the exotic fruit.

Rideout propagated all sorts of cultivars. Whether the seed he sold to Rudolph Hass was one of his own cultivars or an import from Guatemala, we'll never know for sure. We do know that he was the spirit behind the survival of the Hass avocado over other cultivars, including the long-standing champ, the Fuerte.

Sadly for Bert, his favorite cultivar, the Lyon, proved difficult to establish in orchard form. the California Avocado Society therefore removed the Lyon from its list of recommended commercial varieties, an action which Rideout took as a personal affront. In dudgeon, he resigned from the society ("of which he had been a active, devoted and generous member" (Obituary in 1946 California Avocado Society Yearbook). 

But wonderful as is the Hass fruit, it took decades for its luscious value to register with the consuming public. It is just so hard to KNOW when to buy an avocado -- if it's rock hard, how do you plan for that game-day guac, or salad for the in-laws? What if it takes too long to ripen?

This guessing game was not only a problem for consumers, but also for growers, distributors, and grocers, who had to manage their mature avocado inventories. One grower in Fallbrook, California decided to get to the bottom of this problem in the early 1980s. 

Gil Henry (1925-2013), on behalf of a group of avocado producers,  installed a hidden camera in a California supermarket in 1983. The film showed shoppers reaching into the avocado bin, squeezing the fruit (which was hard), replacing the fruit, and moving on down the aisle. 

Gil Henry brilliantly re-purposed commercial ripening techniques that had been used for bananas (another "climacteric" fruit -- meaning they don't ripen until they are picked from the tree). He designed sorting, packing, storage, and ripening protocols for the avocado industry. Henry built a "ripening room" where avocados are kept cool and minute amounts of ethylene, a hormone produced by ripening fruit, are pumped into the ripening room. 

Henry's methods resulted in avocado inventories that ripen uniformly and allow grocers to dole out their stock to consumer produce displays at degrees of ripeness that appeal to shoppers.

 

Ethylene: The Ripening Hormone