Many an avocado has been thrown in the garbage can when the skin goes totally black and hard. Of course, overripe avocados can still be used in purees or guacamole, provided the flesh doesn’t show signs of rotting. But in the aim to reduce avocado waste and minimise the impact of their cultivation, the University of California has spent half a century working on a new variety.

The production of avocados has a large ecological impact: growing them requires about 1,000 litres of water to produce just 1kg of fruit. Added to this hefty energy bill is the cost of transportation, as cargo ships transport tonnes of avocados, carefully contained in an environment maintained at 6°C to prevent ripening.

While the environmental issues associated with growing avocados are well known, many still underestimate their cost to the planet as they haven’t factored in the parameter of waste. How many times have you bought a rock-solid avocado that ended up in the garbage just a few days later because it had become overripe?

One way to reduce the environmental impact of avocado production is to help consumers better identify when they can eat them. And for this, colour is the best clue.

Generally, the variety of avocado you slice up and add to a poke bowl or mash for avocado toast is the “Hass”, the world’s leading variety. Dark in colour, its skin can turn completely black without being rotten. And therein lies the problem: this leads many consumers to throw it in the garbage, believing it to be fully past its prime.

In the United States, the University of California – located in the state with the country’s largest avocado production numbers – has just developed a brand-new variety. Over the last 50 years, researchers have carried out tree breeding and tests on thousands of plantations to finally obtain a completely new type of avocado with a green colour that leaves no doubt as to its lack of maturity.

In its official announcement, the University of Riverside explains: “It’s called the Luna and offers consumers great flavour, a rind that turns a tell-tale black only when ripe, and high postharvest quality.”

The cultivation of this new variety of avocado is also expected to have less impact on the planet: the Luna grows on smaller trees, planted more densely in smaller spaces.

Unfortunately, the release doesn’t say whether this new avocado still needs as much water to grow. Nevertheless, it is in the process of being patented, and dozens of growers outside the US have already applied to plant it.