Guacamole Internet Freak Out
A defense to the controversial pea guacamole plus my take on another version of guacamole with no lime juice!
Guacamole Internet Freak Out
Jump to RecipeThe Internet has been freaking out over guacamole. Specifically, two different guacamole versions. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen two versions of the same dish get so much attention. It turns out that maybe people are opinionated about their avocado mashing!
The first version was a pea guacamole that was posted by the NY Times. The responses ranged between “Wow that sounds interesting” to “You are ruining the world!” As someone who has put grapefruit in guacamole, my response was more measured, but I was interested in it!
The second version was more of a heads up to the guacamole world, but one that sort of took me off guard. An Epicurious post from a few months ago stated that real guacamole doesn’t have lime juice and we should all just stop it with the lime in guacamole.
I always put lime in my guacamole, but the argument in the article made sense.
In short, I stopped what I was doing last week and made both of these versions. A lot of people were posting opinions about these recipes, but few people were trying them out.
Pea Guacamole – A Review
I adapted the original recipe very slightly, but the spirit is the same.
Pea Guacamole
- Serves:
- Serves 4
- Prep Time:
- Total Time:
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A defense to the controversial pea guacamole plus my take on another version of guacamole with no lime juice!
Ingredients
Instructions
1) Shuck peas and blanch them in salted water for 1 minute. Drain peas and add them to a mini food processor with minced peppers, cilantro, and a pinch of salt. Process until it’s in a rough paste.
2) In a large bowl, add avocados, scallions, lime juice and zest. sunflower seeds, and pea mixture. Mash until mixture comes together. Season with salt.
Serve the pea guacamole with tortilla chips.
The original recipe involved roasting jalapenos and I just didn’t feel like cranking my oven up on a hot summer day. So I just added fresh peppers to my version.
Anyway, the point is: Do peas belong in guacamole?
First, let’s get a things out of the way:
- Fresh peas aren’t that easy to find in the US. I checked three stores and finally found some at Whole Foods.
- Fresh peas are kind of a pain to work with. You have to shuck them and blanch them.
- Fresh peas are absolutely delicious. They are sweet and have a great texture. Don’t use frozen for this recipe. If you are gonna do it, do it right.
After you shuck and blanch the peas, puree them with some serrano pepper and cilantro.
Gotta love the color on this!
Then you just mash that together with the other ingredients.
Speaking of other ingredients… I was kind of shocked that people freaked out about peas but the same recipe calls for sunflower seeds! I’ve never seen those in a guacamole recipe either…
Anyway, in they go!
My pea guacamole conclusions?? It’s was actually delicious. Slightly sweet with just enough spice and citrus to it. It was a really interesting twist on the standard guac. I have no problem giving it a few thumbs up!
But, I probably won’t make it that much. In short, I make guacamole a lot because it’s quick and simple. Adding the complication of finding fresh peas and folding them in is a bit more work than I’m willing to do for what is usually a casual appetizer at my house.
No Lime Guacamole
The idea behind this is that lime actually hides the flavor of the avocado. You taste mostly citrus instead of the other flavors. Also, guacamole is frequently served with salsa or in tacos which have plenty of citrus so just leave it out!
There wasn’t a particular recipe in the post, but the spirit of one was there. Basically start with very ripe avocados, cube them up and season them well. I just seasoned mine with salt and chili powder.
Then you mash in some cilantro, scallions, and Serrano pepper.
I seriously just mashed mine up on my cutting board. This took maybe five minutes to make. My kind of guacamole!
I tasted and seasoned and tasted and seasoned.
For me, I found that I just didn’t like it as much as a version with a little lime in it.
It’s true that I was eating it as an appetizer. I can see how it would be really good with salsa or on tacos. Also, if you made your own chips and spritzed them with some lime then maybe you wouldn’t need it in the guac.
Personally, I think I’ll stick with adding a squirt of lime to my guacamole.
What do you Think?
Pea guacamole? No-lime Guacamole? How much can we over-think an appetizer?
11 Responses to “Guacamole Internet Freak Out” Leave a comment
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Hello! My name is Nick Evans and I write and manage Macheesmo. I started Macheesmo 11 years ago when I was just learning my way around the kitchen. I love to cook and love everything food-related, but I have no formal training. These days I focus on fast, accessible recipes with the occasional “reach” recipe!
I’ve posted almost 2,000 recipes on Macheesmo. For each one, I do my best to give full explanations of what I did and tips on what I’d do differently next time. I’ll bring up the tricky parts and the easy parts.
I hope you can find something and cook something!
It sounds a bit like the no lime guac comes from someone that’s been using too much. A little hit of acid can go a long way for flavor enhancement without having to bring up the salt levels. In order to get the right amount of lime I usually start with about 1/2 lime per avocado, but I strain off the extra after letting the cubed avocado sit in the lime juice for 5-10 min.
That’s about the ratio I use also Thomas. Good idea to strain off extra also!
Taste aside, I have always been under the impression that the main purpose of fresh lime (or lemon) juice was to prevent the “browning” of the avocado flesh.
I think it’s mainly for acid flavor. It does prevent browning a little bit, but it’ll still brown if you let it sit too long.
I like lime. Pea sounds interesting if someone else makes it. You can do a lot with avos. with what is on hand. No lime ?, Try a good vinegar. Thanks for the essay!
Great idea Joel! Thanks for the comment.
There are many recipes for guac out there. As a guy who ran a restaurant that went through more than 3 cases of 16 avocados in a week worth of guac, I can weigh in on the lime issue. I think that as long as the lime juice is from actual limes and not that horrid lime juice radiator water that comes out of the plastic containers, you can’t go wrong with a little spritz. The idea is to brighten up the flavor. The problem comes from people not adjusting TO TASTE. In other words, it’s not 1 tbsp, it could be 1/2 tsp to 2 tbsp, IT DEPENDS. How does the guac taste? Does it need more salt? More lime juice?
Agree. I always struggle with even listing an amount of lime juice (and salt) in recipes because it should definitely be a taste-and-go thing.
I can see why it may be desirable to leave the lime out from guacamole–especially after having some that was made with excessive amount of lime. I like a little lime in mine. Now, the pea guacamole is an interesting idea. Surely the peas help with the color, keeping the green. I do like peas so I’m not against trying guacamole with mashed fresh peas mixed in.
It’s good to see someone thinnikg it through.
Ingshits like this liven things up around here.