All you need is a ripe avocado and a pinch of salt!
Whether with chips or carrot sticks, on a sandwich or on tacos, this heart-healthy side takes the spotlight every September 16th on National Guacamole Day. To make this tasty green dip, all you really need is a ripe avocado and a pinch of salt. Feeling a little daring? Concoct your own secret recipe. Don’t feel like cooking? Order chips and guacamole a la carte from Kenmore’s own Acapulco Fresh Mexican Grill located on Bothell Way. Any way you slice it, when avocados are on the menu, you can’t go wrong.
History of Guacamole
If you enjoy eating guacamole with your nachos, you have the Aztecs to thank. In the early 1500s these indiginous South Americans were the first to mash vitamin-rich avocados into a healthy spread called ahuaca-mulli or “avocado sauce.” Today there are hundreds of ways to prepare guacamole. You may prefer yours with onion, garlic, cumin, tomato, cilantro, store-bought salsa, or even a touch of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
The word “avocado” is believed to be derived from the Nahuatl word ahuacatl, which means “testicle” and obviously describes the shape of the fruit. It also likely refers to the fact that the believed the avocado to be an aphrodisiac. A Brief History of the Avocado (avoseedo.com)
The Star of the Show
Of course the main star of this popular side dish is the avocado. Archaeologists have found evidence of avocado consumption going back almost 10,000 years in central Mexico where Mesoamerican tribes were first to domesticate the avocado tree. It was Henry Perrine, a horticulturist, who first planted avocados in Florida in 1833. Three years later avocado trees began to be cultivated in California as well.
What’s in a name?
Early on, California farmers realized they had a problem. The two suggested names for the fruit weren’t ideal. One, Ahuacate, with its Aztec origins, was hard for people to pronounce. Two, Alligator Pear, inspired by the bumpy, olive skin, was half-unappealing and half-misleading. So in 1915, a group of farmers gathered and decided to come up with a new name: the avocado. Though this now-popular fruit didn’t start gaining widespread popularity until the 1950s, the average consumption of avocados in the United states today is a whopping 2.6 billion pounds a year.
