Summer Guacamole

Everyone has their favorite guacamole recipe. Some recipes hold cherished memories of growing up, while others ignite tingly taste bud impressions of the first time they ever tasted guac. Avocados, which are rich in healthy fats and vitamins, were once a rarity in parts of the states.  Now it's ho-hum avocado toast from here to Toledo. Even if we have grown spoiled by being overexposed to the green goddess, it's hard to find people who don't love guacamole.

Whether you're making simple avocado mashed on toast or with an authentic volcanic stone mortar and pestle, it's fun to experiment and mix it up.  Try making your next guac with a few flavor twists that still color within the lines.  If you typically use lemon, try lime. We are big fans of Persian limes also known as Bearss limes.  Their skin turns yellow when ripe  and they have a gorgeous pale green interior.  Their flavor is delicate and they're really juicy.  If you always use garlic switch to scraping the juice of a sweet onion into your guac.  Use fresh Sungold cherry tomatoes sliced in half to garnish your guacamole, or add salted, toasted pepitas to your topping.

Below is a summer recipe we hope you will love, or use it as a jumping off place to make mouth watering future memories for someone you love.

Ingredients
3 large ripe avocados (Haas is a great one)
1 large lime or lemon  (Bearss limes or Meyer lemons are great)
1/2 of a sweet or mild onion (Maui or Vidalia are mild and delicious)
1/4-1/2 jalapeno
fresh cilantro leaves
sea salt
sour dough toasts, corn chips, seeded crackers

Recipe
Open avocados and carefully remove the pits. Cleanly scrape the avocado from the skin and place in a good sized bowl. Remove any dark spots. Sprinkle with a pinch or two of sea salt. Go lightly at first and finish with more salt if desired. Mash the avocado just a bit with the tines of a fork. Slice a mild, sweet onion in half and scrape the surface with a sharp knife over the flesh of the onion letting the onion juice drip onto the avocado. You will want to add the onion to taste. If you prefer more than just the flavor from the fresh onion, then dice the onion and add one quarter to one half of the chopped onion. Slice a jalapeño in half and scrap out the seeds. Dice the pepper into small pieces and add to your bowl. Depending on how hot the jalapeño is and how hot you like your guacamole, add more or less to taste. Wash a quarter to half a bunch of cilantro. Pick the leaves from the stems and chop roughly. Add to your guac.  Gently mix and mash the ingredients, leaving it fairly chunky. Squeeze the juice of one large lime over your mixture and blend your ingredients to the consistency you like.  If your lime is not juicy, you may need several, or to switch to lemon. We like to leave our guacamole a bit chunky. Add additional salt if desired.

Top with toasted pumpkin seeds and a little Aleppo chili. Slice some cherry tomatoes over the top for  summer color and serve on sourdough,  plain or seeded crackers, or with corn chips.

Now it's time to guac around the clock, which is a throw back to the sixties when my mom's simple guacamole was a rare and special treat. She used only lemon, a few scrapes across the top of an onion, and salt, and she served her mashed avo on Saltine crackers!