This website is part of the Chilean and Peruvian campaign to promote the taste, versatility and many health benefits of Hass avocados in Britain.

Key messages of the campaign include:

• Avocados contain 12 of the 13 known vitamins, and several minerals
• Half a medium avocado (72 grams) contains just 137 calories, 50% less than a plain bagel
• Gram for gram an avocado contains almost twice the amount of cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated (or 'good') fat as salmon
• Avocados contain 12.5% more potassium than the sportsperson's favourite - bananas
• An avocado makes a mouth-watering 'hero ingredient' in a salad, sandwich or cheese on toast

Thomasina Miers, television chef and owner of London’s Wahaca restaurants, is spokesperson for the campaign. She has developed a series of deliciously healthy avocado recipes and during Avocado Week (click here) will be demonstrating culinary skills, taking part in interviews and hosting the annual Avocado Brotherhood lunch, which is held every year in London for lovers of this delicious fruit.

Other activities centred around Avocado Week include and ‘Deliciously Healthy Avocados’ taxi cabs in London, magazine and newspaper features on the fruit, and an Avocado Ambassador, who will visit chefs’ colleges around the country.

Avocado Week is an initiative by the Chilean Hass Avocado Association, whose members, growers and exporters, are the main source of the Hass variety during the winter season.

More on avocados

• Did you know that although avocados are tasty, versatile and good for you – only one-in-four Britons eat these deliciously healthy fruits regularly
• The Hass variety of avocado is creamy with a slightly nutty flavour. It has a dark, knobbly skin
• One half an avocado counts for one of your five-a-day
• Avocados are transported to the UK by ship
• Avocados contain monounsaturated fats and tryptophan, which boosts endorphins in the brain
• Avocados are a good source of fibre, containing one of the highest levels of dietary fibre per, 100g, of any commonly eaten fruit
• Chilean Hass avocado plantations extend from La Serena, in the north, to the town of Peumo, in the south
• Peruvian Hass avocados are produced in young orchards along 3,000 hectares of plantations along the fertile, low-lying coastal region of Peru. They are in season from April through to September, when the Chilean avocado season begins