The team at The Avo Tree are passionate about supplying Kiwis with the best avocados the Bay of Plenty can produce. Owner-director Thorley Robbins shares some tips on how to eat them at their best, and how you can get them delivered all year round.

What drew you to growing avocados? I was brought up on a small avocado orchard, so essentially I was born with the trees in the backyard. As a company we don’t grow our avocados. We buy them from a large number of boutique lifestyle growers spread across the western Bay of Plenty. Generally, this results in a fruit that is less intensively farmed, which usually means less spraying and quite often no sprays.

You are obviously fans – what do you love about them? Everything! Its nutritional goodness is arguably unrivalled. Combine that with the taste and texture and you have the perfect food! Its unique fat content creates a mellow, smooth flavour that is unlike any other fruit, and the texture then complements this flavour. It’s versatile and doesn’t take much to make it good. Take avocado on toast as an example – it’s simple and it’s incredibly tasty.

Tell us about your subscription service? We pick the fruit, we put them in the box and they arrive in perfect condition on your doorstep. The customer has full control of their orders. This means they can change the box size, change the frequency, change the dispatch day, pause it if they are on holiday, skip an order if they have too many avos or cancel it if you’re crazy. They can control it however they like. We dispatch every day but repeat orders on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Honestly, its simplicity is its value.

Why do you think your avocados are in such high demand? The fruit is in such high demand because of its nutrition and flavour. Ours are just the best of the bunch. They are reliable both in delivery and quality of fruit. We offer a range of size fruit and boxes, which allows us to suit a large range of customers. Consistency is key in any business and it’s the same for us.

How do you know if an avocado is ripe? Everyone has their own technique and it is just what you are used to or comfortable with. However, we think the best way with the Hass variety is first the visual indication (darkening) and then touch. They should gently ease under slight pressure. We have a great ripening section on our website that helps with the whole process. Colour, feel and time all come into play so if you are unsure, reading this is the perfect start!

Do you have any tips for ripening them? Never refrigerate green avocados. Ripen them in the box in a shady spot, and when they are 80 percent ripe or getting dark and with a slight ease to pressure, then refrigerate them. They will hold in perfect ready-to eat condition for at least a week. If you know what you are up to, it is so easy to get good avos every single time.

What’s your favourite way to eat them? Tough question. We have a huge range of fantastic recipes on our website. However you really can’t go past a good guac, or avo on toast. At the moment I’m into avo on Better Bread sourdough, topped with lemon, Lucky Lucky noodle chilli oil, salt and pepper.

You’ve got a range of avocado-based skincare products as well – what can you tell us about them? Yes! All our products are NZ Avocado oil-based, which we believe sets them apart from other natural skincare available. We are updating the range and working on a new set of products.

theavotree.co.nz