About Avocados Students will be interested to learn more about how their fresh produce gets from the grove to their table. Avocados are picked, put into bins that hold 800 pounds each and taken to packing house. Here, they are sorted by size and packed into boxes for shipping. They must be stored very carefully. They are also ripened by exposure too ethylene gas.
Ethylene is a gas which is produced by ripening fruits including avocados, bananas and apples.
From the packing house,, the avocados travel by refrigerated truck to supermarkets around the country. Avocados are very sensitive to temperature and the ethylene gas given off by other fruits so they can only be transported with certain other fruits and vegetables. Students can play games, solve puzzles, download delicious recipes to try at school or at home and discover more about the fascinating avocado. Students can also access a variety of nutritional web sites through the California Avocado Commission web site. This teacher guide.