Happy Cinco De Mayo friends!  In the celebration of Mexican heritage and pride we wanted to pass along our guacamole recipe.  Guacamole is simple to whip up, which is why everyone should know how to make it by heart!  I also learned how to store guac without it turning brown, like not even a tinge brown so read on muchachos.  Arriba arriba!

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 3 pearl tomatoes (or 2 roma)
• ¼ cup sweet onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 limes (or one lemon)
• 1 Tbsp cilantro
• ½ jalapeño
• salt & pepper

A few tips:

• Ripe avocados are essential to great guacamole.  Hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and apply gentle pressure.  The avocado should give a little bit that means it’s ripe.  If it’s still firm, it will be ripe in a few days.

• If you like spicy guacamole, add the entire jalapeño.

• Limes are expennnnnsive this year.  I bought mine for $1 a piece.  Feel free to substitute a lemon, you won’t sacrifice the quality.

• Salt really brings out the flavor of avocados so don’t skimp!

Instructions:

• Depending on how chunky you like your guac, chop the garlic, onion and jalapeño accordingly.  De-seed the tomatoes and chop those as well.  Add everything to a medium-sized mixing bowl.

• Halve the avocados, take out the pits (like shown) and gently slice them in their peels.  Scoop the avocado into the mixing bowl and mix and mash to your liking.

• Roughly chop 1 Tbsp of cilantro, set aside a few leaves for the garnish and add the rest to the bowl.

• Juice two limes and add it to the mix.  Add salt and pepper to taste, give it one final mix and enjoy!

 

How do you keep your avocados green?  I recently learned a new technique that works SO well.  I do a little happy dance every time I take my guac out of the fridge and it’s just as green as when it went in.  In the past, I would press plastic wrap on the surface of the guacamole, but even saran wrap is porous, which allows air through.  Air seeping through the plastic wrap oxidizes the guacamole and turns it brown.  Water on the other hand is a perfect barrier against oxygen.  If you’ve never tried this technique, I know it may sound a little gross.  I thought it was strange, but the science makes perfect sense so, in the name of science you have to try this at least once.

Keeping Guacamole Green:

• Using a rubber spatula, press the guacamole firmly and evenly into a container with a tight fitting lid.  You want to remove any air bubbles and create a smooth surface of guac on top.

• Fill a cup with room temperature water and gently pour it over the top of the guacamole.  Make sure the water completely covers the guac.

• Put the lid on the container and pop it in the fridge.

• Simply pour off the water and give your guac a mix when you’re ready to serve it.

What do you think? Are you going to give it a try?  Believe me, I tried plastic wrap, leaving the avocado pits in the guac, lots of extra lime juice and now this water trick and the water works the best by far.  To be honest, the other techniques didn’t work at all.  I love how the cilantro, garlic and onion flavors really come through after sitting in the fridge for a couple hours, but I hated the brown color.  Now I’m sittin’ pretty, eating all the green and tasty guac I please.  I hope you’ll soon be doing the same.  Now go get your Cinco De Mayo on!