Guacamole with
corn chips is a great addition to any party menu!

The ingredients
needed to make guacamole are:

When using
avocados, planning ahead is essential.
If you try to make guacamole with a hard, under-ripe avocado, both the
texture and the taste will be all wrong.
When buying avocados, buy the ones that yield to gentle pressure but are
not soft or mushy. Fortunately, you can speed up the ripening process by
placing hard avocados in a brown paper bag for a couple of days. (That’s why you need to plan ahead!)
Check out my
previous posts on how to crush garlic, squeeze juice from a lemon or lime and how to clean and cut jalapeno peppers, because they are what we
are gong to tackle first.
Be sure to use
fresh limes (or lemons) and fresh garlic and fresh jalapenos for this recipe.
Let’s
start cooking!
Crush 2 cloves
of garlic.

Squeeze 1/2 of a
fresh lime; we will need 2 teaspoons of the juice.

Seed 1 jalapeño pepper
and dice it into about 1/8 inch bits.

Cut one tomato
in half with the stem end to the right of the knife blade.

Squeeze out all
the seeds.

Chop the tomato
into about ¼ inch bits.

Cut two avocados
lengthwise (rather than making the cut around the width.)

Separate the two
pieces.

Leave the
avocado on the cutting board and give the pit a thwack with a big sharp knife.

Give the knife a
twist and carefully remove the pit.

With a spoon,
scoop out the avocado.

It’s OK to put
the skin down the garbage disposer, but I just throw the pit in the trash. (It’s sort of like throwing a golf ball in
the disposer. You just wouldn’t do it!)
For this chunky
guacamole, I like to use a fork to mash it. You could also use a potato masher if you like.

Now add the other prepared ingredients to the avocado. Don't forget the hot pepper sauce!

With a spoon
gently blend everything together.

Give it a taste
and see if you need to add some salt and pepper.
It’s important
to note that, once exposed to air, an avocado discolors very quickly. Adding
lime or lemon juice helps to prevent discoloration. It is widely believed that
an avocado pit left in guacamole will help to maintain the lush green color.
Wrong!
Stick with the
lemon or lime juice.
By the way, avocados
are always eaten raw. They actually turn
bitter when they are cooked. Who knew?

Enjoy!
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Shaula Evans | posted on Feb 1, 2007
Okay, you've got me craving guacamole now. (Granted, that's not hard to do.)
When we lived in Texas, I used to use tomatillas instead of, or in addition to, tomatoes. I don't know if you see them often in the stores in Boston (they only show up here in Virginia once in a blue moon), but they're fun to cook with if you can get your hands on them. I find they're not as acidic as tomatoes.
Do you ever try to grow the pit into a plant? I have fond childhood memories of avacado pits sprouting in jars of water. (Poor pits: I don't remember what happened to them after that!)