Nothing beats guacamole to kick off a night of Mexican food. One of the most popular kinds of Mexican snacks is guacamole. This light, tasty, and surprisingly nutritious dip is usually served with tortilla chips. Guacamole is made with mashed raw avocados combined with additional ingredients to taste. It gets its green color from avocados, while additional ingredients like tomatoes and onions provide texture.
On Super Bowl Sunday and Cinco de Mayo, guacamole is particularly popular. This tasty delicacy is a great tailgate or party snack and a popular Mexican restaurant side dish. Guacamole is also very nutritious, owing to its avocado foundation. Guacamole can improve heart, skin, hair health, weight reduction, cancer prevention, and a healthier immunological and digestive system.
Wondering what else makes this incredible dip so great? Here are some fun facts you might enjoy!
Guacamole was invented by the Aztecs and spread from South Central Mexico through Central America and as far south as Peru.
Avocados were often known as alligator pear in the early 1900s. The Hass avocado is the most common variety, named after postal worker Rudolph Hass, who bought the seedling from a California farmer in 1926 and trademarked it in 1935.
Guacamole consumption has grown due to the United States government removing a restriction on avocado imports in the 1900s and expanding the Latino community in the United States. This move boosted avocado sales in the country, particularly during Super Bowl Sundays and Cinco de Mayo.
Traditionally, guacamole dip is prepared by crushing ripe avocados and sea salt in a molcajete (mortar and pestle). Tomato, onion, garlic, peas, lemon or lime juice, chili or cayenne pepper, coriander (cilantro), basil, jalapeno, and cilantro. Other spices may be included in certain dishes. Sour cream is the primary ingredient in several unconventional recipes.
Because avocado cells contain polyphenol oxidase, exposure to oxygen in the air triggers an enzyme process that results in melanoidin pigment, which turns the sauce brown. This outcome is usually seen as unappealing, and various techniques (some anecdotal) are used to mitigate it. To counteract this impact, commonly used strategies include keeping the guacamole in an airtight container. Some firmly wrap it in transparent plastic wrap to minimize the surface area exposed to the air.
Raw avocado is the main component of guacamole. The meal's nutritional value derives from avocado vitamins, minerals, and lipids, providing considerable amounts of dietary fiber, numerous B vitamins, vitamin K, vitamin E, and potassium. Avocados include saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and phytosterols, including beta-sitosterol. They also contain carotenoids, including beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, and lutein (table).
Mantequilla de Pobre (Spanish meaning "poor man's butter") is a condiment made with avocado, tomato, oil, and citrus juice. Despite its name, it predated the advent of dairy cattle in the Americas and was therefore not created as a butter replacement.
Guasacaca is a Venezuelan avocado-based sauce that may be thin and acidic or thick and chunky; it is prepared with vinegar and served over parrillas (grilled food), arepas, empanadas, and other meals. It is often made with a bit of hot sauce instead of jalapeno, although, like guacamole, it is not typically eaten as a hot sauce on its own.
Salat avocado, a rural Israeli avocado salad with lemon juice and chopped scallions (spring onions) with salt and black pepper, was introduced in the 1920s by farmers who planted avocado trees on the coastal plain. Avocados have become a winter delicacy, being sliced into salads and put on toast and pita and flatbread, typically eaten in coastal plain communities. Nowadays, it is customary to add cumin and feta or safed cheese before the lemon juice.
The recipe for guacamole contained in musician Jack White's contract for playing at the Institution of Oklahoma in 2015 was acquired via a Freedom of Information Act request to the university.
National Guacamole Day is observed on September 16, Mexican Independence Day. On April 11, 2013, 450 high school students from Tancitaro, Michoacán, Mexico, broke the Guinness record for the biggest dish of guacamole, weighing a jaw-dropping 2,670 kilos!
Final Thoughts
Nothing like going up to a Super Dish party and discovering your host has a big bowl of fresh guacamole on the table. Guacamole is quickly becoming one of the most popular Super Bowl Sunday meals. Every Super Bowl Sunday, more than 45 million pounds of avocado are eaten, and that's a much dipping scene.
Nachos Mexican Grille is your best option if you are looking for the best Mexican food or places to eat near Lincoln, NH, to satisfy your tex-mex cravings. We satisfy your craving by serving Mexican favorites. Check out our menu today!