The Fuerte Avocado

Eager to learn more about the popular and delicious Fuerte Avocado variety? We’re here to help! Here you’ll learn all the most important information about the original gold standard of avocados—from buying them, to cooking with them, to growing them yourself!

If you thought the only avocado game in town was a Hass, you’re in for a treat! Keep reading to learn if a Fuerte avocado can be part of your home garden.

Characteristics of the Fuerte Avocado Tree

Fuerte Avocado trees are large and spreading, greatly eye-catching in a sprawl of up to 35 feet, and giving off a strong anise smell when the leaves are crushed. Growing best in warm climates but away from coastlines, these trees can be unpredictable in their production, with some being better producers than others throughout their lifetime and even year by year.

As a Type B tree, the Fuerte Avocado tree often produces its best crop when planted near Type A avocado trees, as they pollinate at different times of the day, maximizing the amount of pollen available to the Fuerte.

Fuerte Specific

Appearance

Once considered the gold standard of avocados before being displaced by the more widely-accessible Haas (though it is still thought by many to be the best-tasting avocado!), the Fuerte Avocado is of a medium-to-large size, elongated and pear-shaped, with a thick, yellow, slightly oily flesh.

Eating Them

Its deliciously rich, creamy flavor is praised in particular for its nutty undertones often likened to hazelnut, and a finish that’s quite clean, almost grassy in nature. This avocado is a green-skinned variety with darker speckles, meaning it does not darken as it ripens; instead, ripeness can be judged when the avocado gently yields to pressure.

Due to its rich, buttery fattiness, the Fuerte Avocado pairs excellently with salty meats such as bacon and prosciutto; with nuts such as peanuts, cashews, and roasted pecans; with higher-sodium, harder cheeses; and with acidic fruits and vegetables like citrus, tomatoes, pineapple, and certain high-acid dressings. In addition, the avocado’s creaminess and the high fat content have made this variety a popular substitute for butter as a finish on breads, etc.

When preparing meals that include Fuerte Avocadoes, you should avoid exposure to direct heat and instead use this avocado raw, preserving that trademark creaminess—for example, to make a dip, cubed on top of a salad, added as a garnish to an omelet after cooking, spread on a BLT, or sliced and placed as a finish on a chicken pasta dish, quesadilla, etc.

It’s great for snacking on as-is, fresh from the easy-to-peel skin, or still in the skin as a vessel for tuna or chicken salad once the pit is removed; and kids will really enjoy this avocado as a base for guacamole, avocado toast, sandwiches, or mixed with a bit of sour cream and lemon juice and spread on their favorite crackers!

Health Benefits

Like its fellow avocados, the Fuerte Avocado offers a plethora of health benefits. It’s an excellent source of healthy fat, vitamins, and minerals, including more protein, magnesium, vitamin E, and vitamin K per ounce than any other fruit. In addition, its frequent consumption can aid in maintaining a healthy weight, lowering overall body inflammation and increasing antioxidants, and lowering heart disease risk.

It contains fatty acids which may help prevent breast and prostate cancer as well as help lower LDL cholesterol and raise levels of healthy HDL cholesterol. It’s also great for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, as it’s high in such crucial elements as fiber, folate, Vitamin C, and potassium.

To learn more about the health benefits of avocados, click here!

Growing At Home

Despite its rampant popularity, this can be a difficult avocado to grow at home. It’s been said of the Fuerte Avocado that “80% of our Fuerte fruit comes from 20% of the trees.” Growers have noted many times that their Fuerte Avocado trees produce far smaller crops than their other varieties—sometimes at a ratio of a dozen Fuertes to a hundred of another avocado—though what fruits they do produce are sizeable and delicious, often the best of the whole crop, making them well worth the patience and effort.

Because this is a very sensitive breed of avocado tree, with a uniquely erratic and unpredictable harvest, the Fuerte Avocado’s rootstock is very important; it’s recommended to begin with a seedling tree, as these are more likely to have been grafted from already-productive Fuerte Avocado trees, giving you a better chance of an abundant harvest.

This is a large spreading tree (25-35 feet when fully mature) that flourishes best in direct sunlight. It has a cold tolerance as low as 28 degrees Fahrenheit but thrives particularly in warmer weather, and tends to produce better when near Type A avocado trees and/or bee-friendly flowers.

Planting

It’s recommended to plant in-ground in a hole about 2 feet by 2 feet wide, and 2 feet deep, with each hole spaced about 17 feet apart. Soil fertilized with well-decomposed manure is considered best for this avocado variety, and it’s recommended to keep the area around your tree weed-free and mulched. It’s also important to keep your Fuerte Avocado tree well-groomed to maximize sunlight exposure and encourage continuous healthy growth. To learn more about how to prune your Fuerte Avocado tree, click here!

Harvesting

When it comes to harvesting, the best time to harvest Fuerte Avocados is generally August-October, though the tree will often continue producing until closer to spring. Though a Fuerte Avocado crop can be unpredictable year to year, most growers have noted their trees tend to produce a bumper crop in alternate years, rather than annually.

Pests and Diseases

With its thin, green skin attracting both welcome and unwelcome consumers, the Fuerte Avocado and its tree are susceptible to a number of pests—such as scale insects, fruit flies, spider mites, wasps, certain moths, and thrips—and diseases including root rot, scab, and more. To learn more about common avocado tree pests and how to deal with them, click here. And to learn more about common avocado tree diseases and how to treat them, click here!

To learn more about how to care for your avocado tree overall, click here!

Where To Buy The Fuerte Avocado Tree

Because of the importance of good rootstock, it’s important to buy your Fuerte Avocado tree from a reputable source that has produced active trees in the past. You can purchase trees from one such well-reviewed rootstock here!

If you’re looking to purchase Fuerte Avocados without growing them yourself, you’ll likely have to order online unless you live in state like California where these avocado trees are more prolific; the avocados themselves tend to be more difficult to ship nationally due to their fragility, which is why they’ve fallen behind in popularity to easy-transit varieties such as Haas.

Where To Buy Fuerte Avocados

However, you can purchase and enjoy these succulent, choice avocados from online retailers such as this one! You can also check your local grocery store to see if the might just carry this delectable variety as well. (If you find a retailer who carries them, we’d love for you to share that information in the comments section below to help out readers in your area!)

Conclusion

If you’re hungry to try one of the best avocados out there, look no further than the Fuerte Avocado! This delicious, versatile avocado is well worth the effort to grow or purchase—enjoying it will be a truly memorable experience for your tastebuds!

Have you ever grown a Fuerte avocado or do you know where to buy the fruit? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

Excited for more avocado content? Then check out my avocado page for more growing tips, info guides, and great recipes!