Avocado toast is one of the tastiest and easy-to-make breakfasts to start your day. And it is surging in popularity, even though avocado toast dates back to to the 1920’s in California, where lots of avocados are grown.
The avocados in St. Croix are seedlings, of pure West Indian type. The local name for avocado is “pear.” The fruits vary from inverted heart-shaped through pyriform (commonest) to bottle-shaped. The bearing season is from late June to mid-September, depending mostly on the tree, but partly on the season. Almost all are loose-seeded, and the natives know that the fruit is ready to pick if they can make the seed rattle, according to R. M. Bond and A. L. Frederiksen, Formerly, Officer in Charge and Horticulturist, respectively, Federal Station, ARS, USDA, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. They are planted most often near houses or in rows in a field.
West Indian avocados are shiny with thin skin and different from two other varieties of avocado known as Mexican avocado and Guatemalan avocado whose skin is hard and full of warts.
Virgin Islanders often have toast with a few slices of avocado on it as breakfast, often with a twist of lime and maybe a little salt and pepper. Some people spread peanut butter over a slice of toast then add avocado. Homemade sourdough toast makes it unique to the Virgin Islands. If you are really hungry you can add a poached or scrambled egg with a little bit of shaved parmesan. Personally, I like to add a little olive oil, sesame seeds and red pepper flakes. Mmmmmm.