The Singapore Avocado Mystery

While Singapore doesn’t really grow many fruits or vegetables for obvious reasons, its neighbors north and south have huge plantations and grow just about anything possible. The local markets have an abundance of all kinds of fruits and vegetables from Malaysia and Indonesia.

However, one fruit that seems to be consistently absent from all markets here is the Indonesian avocado. And I care because it is one of my favorite fruits. Don’t get me wrong, I can get avocados in every supermarket here but they are always from Australia or the USA and the small kind with wrinkly skin and are expensive. They taste just fine but I just can’t understand why nobody sells the bigger and cheaper Indonesian version.

I only found out about the Indonesian avocado during my trip to Flores.

Indonesian avocado at the market in Bajawa, Flores

I mean, look at these avocados: huge, tasty and if I remember correctly, around SGD1 for a kilo.

Some of the best avocados I had in a long time

After returning from Flores, I searched high and low for them. I found some (although not quite the same size) at Geylang Serai market. Unfortunately that market is closed until mid-November 2016 for renovation works.

Does anybody know why Indonesian avocados are not more prevalent in Singapore?