Guacamole

You know my inner food geek comes out now and then. I get curious about foods I eat and like to find out how they came to be. So when I made guacamole recently I wanted to learn more about it. Guacamole dates back to the time of the Aztecs.

The Aztec Indians were simple people who relied on what they could grow and hunt for food. In this ancient civilization, food, drinks, and dining were a part of the culture. Their diet was heavily plant-based because the Aztec Civilization flourished in Mexico due to a combination of climatic advantages and extensive farming expertise, which gave them one of the most varied cuisines in the ancient world.

It was easier for them to grow crops and live off the land rather than hunt and rely on animals. Meat was considered a luxury for the Aztecs and ordinary people ate it infrequently. Their food included rabbits, turkeys and, armadillos. Can you believe they even ate dogs?!?! Before you curse their name for eating dogs, they were also accredited for the discovery of chocolate…

Aztec food was a rich combination of many foods that is still much a part of the Mexican diet today and it has spread around the world. They ate tomatoes, avocados, beans and, peppers, as well as pumpkins, squashes, peanuts, and fruits such as limes and cactus.

Firmly entrenched in Mexican soil, guacamole dates back all the way to the Aztecs in the 14th and 16th centuries. The Aztec’s low-fat diet relied heavily on the buttery fruit known as an avocado. They used a basalt mortar and pestle to mash-up ripe avocados with tomatoes, onions, hot peppers and, cilantro.

This recipe for guacamole I am sharing with you is adapted from an Alton Brown recipe. I shared that recipe in a blog post a couple of years back, but when I rebuilt my blog in 2015, I decided it wasn’t’ worthy of the new website. At that time, David and I burned ourselves out on guacamole and we didn’t eat it for a long while.

I recently revisited that guacamole recipe and did some tweaking to adjust it to our taste. This guacamole was some of the best I have ever made.

Get those chips ready for dipping! Served smooth or chunky, this guacamole gets added flavor from ground cumin and a little bit of heat from cayenne pepper. It’s flavorful, clean and healthy!

We ate on this batch of guacamole for 3 days and it never oxidized and turned brown. Every day it was just as good as the first, if not better.

I’m gonna put this guac back into our Mexican rotation again. Yum!

Sharing over at Fiesta Friday! Come on over and join in on the fun!

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Guacamole

Served smooth or chunky, this guacamole gets added flavor from ground cumin and a little bit of heat from cayenne pepper. It’s flavorful, clean and healthy.

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword guacamole

Prep Time 20 minutes

Resting Time 1 hour

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 8

Calories 129kcal

Author David & Debbie Spivey

Ingredients

• 3 Haas avocados halved, seeded peeled and cubed
• 1 lime juiced
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ cup red onion finely diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes seeded and diced OR ½ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 tablespoon + chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic grated

Instructions

• Peel and dice the onion finely, remember you don’t want to chomp on large chunks of onion; set aside. Next, seed and dice the Roma tomatoes or quarter the cherry tomatoes; set aside.
• Place the cubes of avocado into a large bowl. Add the lime juice; toss to coat. Make sure the avocado is coated well, this will keep it from oxidizing and turning brown. Add salt, cumin, and cayenne to the avocado; stir well to incorporate, the more you stir, the more the avocado tends to break down. You can also mash some of the cubes with the back of the spoon to break them down to the texture you want. We like our guacamole extra chunky, but if you like it smooth break out the potato masher to get the job done faster. After the avocados are the desired consistency, give it a taste to see if you need to add more salt; adjust as needed.
• Add the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and grate in the garlic into the bowl with the seasoned avocado. Gently fold in; combine well. Taste and season with salt again as necessary.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let the guacamole sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Serve with tortilla chips, vegetable sticks, crackers or as an ingredient. There are endless possibilities!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown

Nutrition

Calories: 129kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 427mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 415IU | Vitamin C: 13.1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.6mg

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The Mountain Kitchen

Hi, my name is Debbie, Author and Photographer at The Mountain Kitchen, a blog that shares delicious homemade recipes using clean food ingredients, and stories about mountain life.

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