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Bright and early this past Sunday, I found myself at the always fab and glam Hollywood Farmers Market.Gosh I love it there!
I was wandering around, trying to gauge where we are in the "seasonally available" cycle, (Peaches, out. Peppers, in.) when I caught sight of these jewels.
Upon bleary-eyed, squinting inspection, a small sign told me they go by the name, Toka Toka Avocados. (I walked past the stand three times trying to figure out where they were from, but couldn't figure that out. It just dawned on me this second, that I could have asked the woman who sold them to me...I guess just because I was up and wandering around, I wasn't totally awake after all! Hee. Hee.)
Nestled in their wooden crate, half of them looked like miniature eggplants, (the glossy purple kind) and the other half looked like classic Hass avocados...except that they have a smooth skin...that is edible! Sorting through to choose an assortment of colors, it was obvious they were all perfectly ripe and ready to eat within a day or so. Smaller than average, (Maybe two and a half inches long, versus, the four+ that most avocados are?)they cost a sensationally reasonable, three for a dollar. I took six.
I ate one,taking a tentative bite. The skin is quite thin, and like most fruit (and they are, I believe, botanically, fruit. Not that that is relevant right now, but whatever) the skin has its own taste, but nothing overly noticeable. As for the actual flesh, honestly, in terms of flavor, they are a bit...flat. But in terms of, um, you know, being able to skip that annoying "peeling" step from your avocado prep-work, well, it rocks.
And they make really beautiful additions to a floral centerpiece!
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San Diego County is the Avocado Capital of the U.S., producing 60% of all the avocados grown in California, which produces about 90% of the nation's avocado crop
I looked up Toka Toka avocados, and couldn't find any info. There are many varieties of edible skin avocados though!
On October 3, 2007 the New York Times food section ran an article about Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. I'm just sayin'
