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Guacamole

Guacamole is a dip, sauce or relish made from mashed avocados and, usually, tomatoes and salt. It often has additional ingredients, including chilli, onion, garlic, lime juice, fresh coriander/cilantro and ground spices.

Guacamole is best eaten immediately after preparation as avocados discolor quickly after mashing and the dip quickly turns from an attractive green colour to a mushy brown. The addition of lime juice slows the discoloration but ideally guacamole should be eaten shortly after preparation.

Some recipes call for the avocado to be mashed in a food processor but this is not the ideal way to prepare avocados as it pulps the flesh too much. A better way is to use a fork (use the back of the prongs of the fork) to mash the avocado.

The name guacamole comes from Mexican spanish, where it combines ahuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce) to produce ahuacamolli, which has been corrupted in the English speaking world to guacamole.

Guacamole is often eaten on its own with tortilla chips or incorporated as a sauce in Tex-Mex food, especially in nachos and fajitas. Guacamole is widely eaten in the United States as a snack food, far more so than it is in Mexico and central America.

Guacamole has also become popular in Australasia, where it egg whites are sometimes incorporated into the guacamole mixture. In New Zealand it is apparently a popular spaghetti sauce.