Culinary Experiment 8: Ru's Cowardly Guacamole

[ru]

I like avocados. Yes, big surprise. In particular, I like avocados in sandwiches. Avocado, some tomato and onion, and melted motzarella? Mmm, tasty. The problem, however, is the fact that avocados, like apples, quickly brown and go icky upon being cut. Lemon juice, however, seems to stay this process. Lately, when I wanted to have avocado for lunch at work, what I've had to do is basically take a lemon-soaked avocado half to school with me, and peel and cut it at the table. It's not only impractical, but quite messy.

So, I got to thinking, what if I were to take guacamole? It'd certainly be less messy. So I bought some guacamole and took some with me to work. Unfortunately, it didn't work too well--it still turned brown, and I didn't care much for it anyway, since it had jalepenos in it. I'm not fond of the insanely spicy.

Therefore, I went to plan b: If I can't find a ready-made guacamole that satisfies me, why don't I make some myself? I could mix in lemon juice to keep it from going brown, and I could season it myself so it isn't flamingly hot. The result was a mix of avocado, garlic, chives, pepper, and lots and lots of lemon juice. Unfortunately, it didn't mix very well, I think perhaps because the avocado was a bit underripe, but it was certainly functional, so it went with me today.

The good news is that the avocado stayed perfectly green. The bad news is that I felt like I was eating less avocado and more Pine Sol. So I definitely need to ratchet back the lemon juice, and maybe use an avocado that's a bit riper (although since it was going onto a sandwich instead of being used for chips, I didn't worry too much about the texture). I can probably also mess with the spices a bit too. I'm hoping I can come up with something functional. ^_^

Comments

[liich.livejournal.com]

apparently if you leave the pit in the avocado half OR in the guacamole it will not brown. a lady at work, who eats avocado almost every day, says that it works for her. i dunno.
also, easy way to cut the avocado is to keep it in the peel. cut the avocado long-ways, then, without much pressure (so you don't cut the peel, just down to the peel) cut both horizontal and vertical lines so you end up with cubes. add diagonal cuts for smaller peices. SO much easier and less messy. :D

[peppermintberry.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's an interesting idea. I never really thought of trying to cut it whilst it's still in the peel, but that would certainly help with the convenience problem. I'll need to try that! ^_^

[scrapyard.livejournal.com]

I don't know how you feel about bean dip, but the lady over at Vegan Lunch Box (http://www.veganlunchbox.com) was having the same problem, and apparently the way she was able to pack avocado was in making it like, the third or fourth layer of bean dip, which also prevented it from going brown.

Avocado is one of those things I just cannot eat unless I travel, because by the time avocados get to Tennessee they are already pretty gross. It makes me sad because they are so verra verra good for you, but when they are already hella nasty by the time you buy them it's just not worth it.

[peppermintberry.livejournal.com]

I do like bean dip, yes, especially when it's combined with lettuce/tomato/sour cream. Mmm, tasty. ^_^ Never had it with avocados before, but I think it would also be quite good. Perhaps the key, then, is finding a way to keep air from getting at the avocado.

Huh, that's odd. I've had pretty good luck with avocados and are only one state over. I seem to always get them when they're underripe and all hard, though, but that's easily fixed with a few days in the fridge. Then again, my love for avocados has developed only recently, so it's possible my taste is based only on bad ones, and as such, I have yet to have a Good avocado.