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Guacamole |
| Home >> Restaurants and Nightlife >> Mexican Cuisine >> Mexican Spices and Condiments >> Guacamole |
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 Guacamole is an avocado-based relish or dip from the time of the Aztecs. In addition to avocados, the basic ingredients are lime juice and salt. Variations often include onion, tomato, hot chile peppers, garlic, coriander, black pepper (although authentic guacamole omits black pepper as it was not known in Mexico in Aztec times) and other spices. It is usually eaten with tortilla chips, although it can be spooned onto or into almost any savory Mexican dish.
Recipes for guacamole vary, and are somewhat dependent on availability of ingredients as well as personal taste. The most basic of these is mashed avocados with a pinch of salt and sometimes a dash of lime juice.
Wherever avocados are expensive, guacamole is considered a delicacy. Sour cream or mayonnaise may be mixed in as a filler, but such preparations are often considered inferior because they dilute and mask the flavor of the avocado, and because they are not used in the original Mexican recipe. This is an American adaptation, significantly straying from "traditional" guacamole recipes.
Mexicans sometimes refer to diluted guacamole often served in low-cost taquerías as "aguamole", a portmanteau of Spanish "agua" ("water") and guacamole. Most guacamole recipes start with fresh peeled avocados, which are put into a bowl and mashed with a knife or fork. An acidic juice, typically lime, is then added; in addition to its flavouring, the juice keeps the guacamole from discolouring or oxidizing upon exposure to air. Other ingredients, typically finely minced or chopped, are mixed into the avocado and lime base. A traditional method of preparing guacamole involves the use of a molcajete (a Mexican mortar and pestle) to grind and mix the ingredients. In Texas and other areas of the southwest United States it is common to make guacamole as a quick party food or to bring it to a pot-luck luncheon by mashing ripe avocados with a favourite salsa using a fork. This adds the needed acid and salt and has the advantage of being a very easy method of preparation.
Guacamole is popular in the United States as a snack food, especially around holidays and other major celebrations. Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July, Super Bowl Sunday, and Easter each account for around 5% of annual avocado sales.
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