Carmen Hass Avocado

'Carmen Hass' is a distinctive Hass-type avocado discovered by Carlos Mendez Vega in a Hass orchard in Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico in the 1980s. This selection exhibits unusual flowering patterns with multiple bloom cycles per year, resulting in the unique ability to produce two distinct crops annually. The variety is notably precocious, flowering and fruiting at a younger age than standard Hass.

Carmen Hass produces fruit with excellent flavor nearly identical to traditional Hass—rich, nutty, and buttery. Fruit is slightly smaller than standard Hass (6-14 ounces) with black, pebbly skin and oval shape. Main season fruit is identical to Hass in appearance and flavor. The skin turns from green to purplish-black when ripe.

Known in Mexico as "Mendez type" Hass, the variety was imported to the USA in 1996-1997 through Brokaw Nursery in Ventura County, California, where it was patented as "Mendez No. 1" and trademarked as "Hass Carmen™." Its ability to produce valuable early crops that fetch premium prices led to commercial adoption in California, South Africa, New Zealand, and other avocado-producing regions worldwide.