The key to creamy guacamole is a perfect avocado. If it’s not ripe enough, you won’t be able to mash it up properly, and if it’s overly ripe, you’ll see brown spots—then no one will want to eat it.
How To Judge An Avocado
Avocados ripen post-harvest. Though Hass avocados turn from greenish to dark purple as they ripen, you shouldn’t just look at the color. Feel it too. If it feels mushy, it’s not something you’ll want to eat. But if it feels slightly soft yet somewhat firm, you’re good to go.
Another trick is to pick off the avocado’s stem. If it comes off easily and you can see green underneath, chances are the avocado should be near ripe. If you instead see brown, it could be overripe. And if the stem won’t even come off, it’s probably not yet ripe.
If you purchase a seemingly perfect avocado but aren’t making guacamole until the next day, try putting it in the fridge and it should keep. (Though we’ve heard you can bake avocados to speed up the ripening process, we haven’t had much success with that.)
Once you have your perfect avocado you can make guacamole!
Yield: Small bowl (serves 2-4)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
2 perfect avocados
1 to 2 T small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 T fresh cilantro
Pepper and salt
Juice of one lime
Preparation
Cut and peel avocados, and remove pits. Dice the avocados, place them in a bowl and use a fork to mash them. Dice onion, garlic, and cilantro and add to mixture. Top with pepper, salt and lime juice.
This is one of the many variations of the recipe that we use. You can switch things up by adding tomato, swapping out types of pepper, adding more or less citrus, or removing the garlic. Be creative!