When we sold our family property on Maui, one of the saddest moments among many was saying goodbye to Grandpa's avocado tree, which yielded fruit so large and weighty that it was difficult to hold in one hand.

The flesh — as deep as two inches in spots around the smallish seed — was silky enough to spread like buttah. Grandpa used to slap it onto Saloon Pilot crackers or just spoon it right out of the shell with a little ketchup for relish.

Luckily, Little Brother (aka Green Thumb) was able to sprout Grandpa's avocado from seed, so — although the people who bought our property cut the tree down — we can still enjoy this avocado in its season (which is approaching fast). Brother even made an arrangement of Grandpa's avocado and Grandma's ginger for my wedding some years ago, to symbolically represent them there.

This season, Brother's tree is literally weighted down with fruit; a branch actually broke off. Market farmers say it looks to be one of those years where we'll be begging our neighbors to take avocados away, as it was with mangoes last summer.

The sack of avocados Brother left in front of my door the other day got me wondering about many things: Why did Grandpa call avocados pears? How do you get unripe avocados to ripen? Why don't we hear more about Hawai'i-grown avocados when they're so good?

Ken Love, a Big Island farmer and passionate advocate for the tropical fruit industry, explained that one name for avocados is "alligator pear," which the older generation often shortened to "pear." (Another, more pleasant, name is "butter pear.")

There are three primary "races" of avocado (Persea americana): West Indian, Guatemalan and Mexican. Guatemalan avocados, especially, have a rough, woody skin that resembles the texture of alligator leather, which probably accounts for the name, Love said. But he's also heard it said that alligators have been observed eating avocados.

And who could blame them?

Avocados are one of the world's best-loved fruits and Love says that after avocados became established in Hawai'i in the early 19th century, the varieties combined to make "some of the best hybrids between the three races that exist in the world." There are more than 200 registered types in Hawai'i, he said.

Love is incensed that the Islands bring in more avocados than we grow. The state Department of Agriculture estimates the 2004 avocado crop at 740,000 pounds; there's been a slow upward trend in farms, bearing acres and production over the past 10 years, according to their statistics. But we still import 860,000 pounds of avocados (from California, Mexico and Florida), Love said. And he believes many thousands of pounds of avocados go to waste here for lack of a market.

Hass thinks Hawai'i fruit could drop-kick the best of the ubiquitous California-grown Calavo avocado any day of the week and twice on Super Bowl Sunday. (Calavo is the California avocado industry trade organization.)

Besides being large and meaty, for example, the Sharwil avocado — the most popular commercial cultivar here, in season in late fall and early winter — is 15 percent to 26 percent oil. This gives the meat an unparalleled creamy texture (and it's healthy, too, because monounsaturates are the oils that help reduce "bad" cholesterol).

Hawai'i's small but hopeful avocado industry faces challenges.

The first is that many people — even here in the Islands — don't realize the industry exists. Markets may not label avocados as to origin. And shoppers may find some Hawai'i varieties strange-looking; the market is so acclimated to the Hass (small, oval, black when ripe) that other shapes and colors may go unrecognized. Sharwil is green when ripe and quite large and rounded, for example.

Brooks Wakefield of the Hawaii Avocado Association said some years ago the organization of about 65 farms used grant monies to conduct in-store samplings, with good response. But that's a laborious way to reach an entire market, and the grant money isn't always available.

In any case, farmers believe the future of the industry is not just here but on the Mainland. Bill Wakefield, of Pea Nani Farm in Keauhou Mauka on the Big Island, said Mainland sales are much more lucrative — if elusive.

"There's a future in avocado. It could be really huge," said Wakefield, who has about 70 acres of old-growth avocado trees on his family's farm, along with coffee and macadamia nuts. For one thing, avocados are much, much less labor-intensive than such crops as coffee — requiring pruning every three years instead of constantly with coffee, fertilizing rarely rather than the five or six times a year with coffee, he said. "We've got trees that will pump out 1,000 to 1,200 pounds a season. If we can get $1 a pound on the Mainland as opposed to 55 cents a pound here, well, say no more." (Wakefield notes that a more typical yield is 250 to 300 pounds a season; the larger number is for a few prolific trees.)

But there are two problems.

The first is the dreaded fruit fly. Love and Wakefield said that, even collecting fruit from the ground, they've never seen an infested avocado, but exports of untreated fruit remain banned. Treating the fruit with gas adds to expense and can hasten ripening, shortening the shelf life. In 1996, the government approved cold treatment of one variety, Sharwil, the most popular commercial hybrid on the Big Island, where 80 percent of Hawai'i's avocado industry is concentrated. This has helped increase sales outside the state.

The larger problem is competition and distribution. It will be tough for tiny Hawai'i to talk buyers into abandoning the large, well-organized and powerful California avocado industry. Love, who laments that even local chefs think there are only two types of avocados — California and Florida — is thinking about doing an advertising campaign in trade publications comparing Hawai'i avocados to California-grown.

Meanwhile, Islanders should be getting ready to enjoy a bounty of avocados, as most varieties here bear in fall, winter and spring (new summer-bearing varieties are being explored).

Americans tend to add avocados to salad and consume thousands of gallons of guacamole during football season, but there are many more uses.

Years ago, a French chef who had grown up in Vietnam when it was associated with France, told me avocado replaced butter in some classic sauces and other recipes there, because butter was hard to get and refrigeration was scarce.

In Brazil, they make sorbet, ice cream and milkshakes. Avocado ice cream flavored with orange juice and rind is popular in Australia. Japanese like avocado with shoyu and wasabi.

In South America, avocado burritos — avocado wrapped in a tortilla — are a favorite breakfast food. In Guatemala, plain avocado is served with spicy dishes as a heat-tamer. Another Guatemalan dish is warm avocado (heated in the oven over low heat) topped with scrambled eggs and anchovies. In Indonesia, sweetened coffee is combined with avocado to make a dessert.

Avocado contains tannins and so can become bitter when cooked, but you'll find recipes in which avocados are stuffed with seafood or chicken in a white sauce, then gently baked just until just heated through. Most cooked recipes call for avocado to be added just at the last moment.

INSIDE THE AVOCADO

Calories: 240 calories a cup

Cholesterol: None

Fat: 8-25 percent oil; primarily healthful monounsaturates; oil content second only to olives among fruits

Sodium: Negligible, less then 10 milligrams per cup

Nutrients: Extremely high in potassium, more than 700 milligrams a cup; also vitamin A, B-complex, C, E, K, folic acid, magnesium, copper, iron, calcium and trace elements

Fiber: High, particularly in desirable soluble fiber

Amino acids: Contains 18 important amino acids and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids

Protein: More than cow's milk, about 2 percent per edible portion

Other: Lutein, a carotenoid, thought to help protect against prostate cancer and eye disease; betasitosterol (a plant sterol), being studied for its ability to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.