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Get Ready to Go Green – It’s National Guacamole Day!!

Fill Your Plate

09.12.2014

Celebrate National Guacamole Day by knowing these facts about guacamole! (photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com)

You may think that now that Labor Day has passed, there aren’t any other holidays in September worth celebrating but that’s only because you don’t know it is almost time to celebrate National Guacamole Day. And we can’t think of a better way to get your green on than by using fresh, creamy avocados to make your guacamole. To get you in the mood to celebrate, here are some ideas on how to fill your day with delicious homemade guacamole.

Perfect at Every Meal

Guacamole may seem like something you only serve up with chips and salsa but if you limit yourself to only this use, you are missing out. Guacamole goes great with the flavors in a Southwest Omelet at breakfast. It is also the perfect complement to any kind of breakfast burrito.

For lunch, it works great as a spread on bread with any sandwich featuring southwest flavors like this Southwest Cilantro Lime Mango Grilled Chicken sandwich. You might even want to try it in place of plain avocado with turkey and bacon. But don’t stop there! Explore the many ways this tasty condiment can add creamy, deliciousness to any lunch entrée like this Tomato, Cucumber and Guacamole sandwich.

At dinner, guacamole can help cool the heat of something spicy like Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos with Grilled Red Pepper Tomato Sauce or Red Pork Posole. It is also the perfect accompaniment to any kind of Mexican, Southwest, or Spicy cuisine.

Picking the Perfect Avocado

It isn’t always easy to tell by looking if an avocado is ripe or not. For the best result, pick it up and squeeze lightly. If the avocado yields a little when you squeeze, it is ripe and ready to make great guacamole. Unripe avocados will take about 4-5 days to ripen, so if you are shopping ahead, keep that in mind. The experts at Hass Avocados recommend putting your unripened avocado in a paper bag with a banana if you want it to ripen more quickly.

Prepping Avocados for Guacamole

When making homemade guacamole, the first step is to get the creamy flesh out of the tough skin and away from the hard seed. The easiest way to do this is to cut the avocado lengthwise all the way around. Then twist the two halves in opposite directions to separate the two halves. Use a spoon to gently remove the seed. Next, use the spoon to gently scrape the light green flesh out of the dark green skin.

Keeping Your Guacamole

If you love guacamole, you know that one of the biggest challenges is it’s propensity to rapidly turn brown once it is exposed to the air. This happens with the avocados themselves and with the finished guacamole. You can keep this from happening by adding additional lemon or lime juice to your guacamole and storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.