Avocados exude summer. AVOCADOS exude summer. Name, colour, image, they conjure heat, sea breezes, gently moving shade. In coastal areas they're indispensable on holiday tables and picnic rugs, sumptuously rich, yet pale and summery. Fruit of the Lauraceae family, avocado is an evergreen, related to camphor, sassafras, cinnamon, laurels. Native to the sultry cultures of Central and South America, avocados were cultivated (as ahuacatl) by the Aztecs and the Incas and encountered by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. They travelled to the West Indies, where new varieties developed. In 1519, in the first Spanish account of New World discoveries, Suma de Geografia, Martin Fernandez de Enciso recorded avocados growing in Columbia. Cortez found them a staple of Mexican diets and a 1554 book lists them sold in Tenochtitlan market (now Mexico City). They travelled north to Florida, California and Hawaii in the 1800s (the oldest living tree is believed to be on University of California's Berkeley campus). In 1751, George Washington wrote of "agovago pears," abundant in Barbados. English expatriates in Jamaica called them alligator pears. ABC Gardening Australia online comments on Persea Americana's uniqueness: despite high oil content, it's not olive-bitter; it's soft and silky, yet not banana-sweet. It doubles banana's potassium content, adding vitamins C, E, K, antioxidants, amino acids. Gardening Australia says "we can grow them everywhere" except in heavy frosts. Watering is important, especially in heatwaves, but so is drainage (if a tree's roots are "fully saturated for 48 hours, it will die"). Walden is "a true tropical variety," but southern Hazzard also fruits in the tropics. Pinkerton can set fruit over a wide climatic range. Hass, Fuerte and Sharwil, varieties likely to be found in markets, are difficult for home gardeners, requiring well-drained soil "in excess of 4-5 metres" and growing to 12m. Pinkerton, Rincon and Wurtz are best for warm temperate and sub-tropical zones; cool climates (above -10C), frost-tolerant Bacon. Elizabeth David (Summer Cooking, 1955) calls them "avocado pears," as we used to in Australia and as "a lot of Queenslanders" still do, according to Gardening Australia, despite being "no relation to the pear family." In London in the 50s, David reports them "now imported" from South Africa, Israel and Madeira, and in Soho markets (6 pence each), Kings Road (1s9d) and Piccadilly shops (3s). She recommends dressing them simply with oil, lemon, salt and pepper, though "some people like to stuff them with mixtures of mayonnaise, ham or even lobster" (yum, Cutting Board thinks). Jamaicans dress them with rum and fresh lime juice. The Cooking of the Caribbean Islands (Time-Life, 1971) notes tourism's influence: "Islanders like hot soups, but tourists prefer something cold (so) a rainbow of new cold soups has been devised from local ingredients," including chilled avocado. T-L's recipes include cold, poached fish coated (like vitello tonnato masked in its tuna mayonnaise) with a "mayonnaise" of avocado, grated onion, fresh lime juice and oil. In SA, avocados are at Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market; Adelaide Hills Avocados are at Willunga. Fourth-generation Myers family grow pesticide-free Reed and Hass, plus selected others, on Victoria's Murray banks at Barham Avocados; selling at Slow Food Melbourne (4th Saturdays), Fairfield (3rd Saturdays), Bendigo (2nd Saturdays), Koondrook-Barham (3rd Saturdays). In Queensland, Marina Mirage market has them. Byron and Bangalow, NSW, expect their next crop in March-April. In Albany, WA, manager Ian Haines says: "Normally, with varietal differences we have avocados mid-October until July. Not this year. Hass, which should be in full flight, are thin on the ground (commercial quantities, probably end January). Reed, in early February. We may get some late Hass. That's farming. Willunga Farmers' Market (Saturdays, 8am-12.30pm, Town Square) Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market (Saturdays, 8am-noon, Showgrounds, Talunga Park) Queensland Marina Mirage Farmers' Market (Saturdays, 7am-11am, 75 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach, Southport) Yandina Produce Market (Saturdays, 7am-noon, Wonga Park, North St) Noosa Farmers' Market (Sundays, 7am-noon, 155 Weyba Rd, Noosaville)