Hate Discolored Guacamole? Just Show Your Pits!

Guacamole is a favorite for many. It seems even those who really don’t like avocados often still enjoy a good guacamole. That is one of life’s mystery I guess. Anyway, whether you make your own, which is my choice, or buy it ready-made, it seems once the guacamole sits out even for a few minutes, it starts to turn gray/brown. Not a very appetizing color, especially when you know what color it is supposed to be. Recently my grown-up kids were all home and our youngest was making guacamole for everyone. We all love it. Our daughter suggested keeping the pits from the avocados in the bowl with the guacamole. What? She went on to tell us that she had heard, and tried this and it really did keep the guacamole looking fresh for a very long time. Well it was worth a try. I must say that returning the big, round, pits to the finished guacamole just did not look right. However it did seem to keep the guacamole fresh. My food curiosity was peaked. How could that be? And certainly, there must be a more attractive way to keep guacamole green than adding the big pits. With a bit of research, a bit of experimentation, and a good bit of eating guacamole I found a pretty good solution, without adding the pits to your finished product. Adding the pits only serves to break up the surface area of your guacamole and that is why pits help prevent the browning. Browning is just oxidation. The less actual, extended, surface area of the guacamole exposed to the air, the less browning. Okay, that makes sense. A good trick is as soon as you have one avocado scraped into your bowl, squeeze lime juice on it even before you mash it. It doesn’t matter if you are using one, or ten avocados. Squeeze a bit of lime juice on each one. That really is perfect anyway as guacamole needs an acid, and lime is the most authentic acid to use. After all your avocados are in your bowl mash them to the consistency you want. Have all your remaining ingredients ready and add them in quickly. If you have to chop a tomato, or mince some garlic, press plastic wrap right against the surface of the avocado while doing your other prep work. Once the guacamole is completed, take plastic wrap and press right against the guacamole again, and them cover the bowl with an additional sheet of plastic wrap. For this purpose it is best to use real ‘Saran Wrap’ rather than other plastic wraps. Saran Wrap is made with polyvinylidene which is the only plastic wrap that is, and polyvinylidene is the least permeable to oxygen which results in less browning. There is a school of thought that suggests once your guacamole is made you flatten it out in your dish and drizzle a thin, even, layer of cold water over the entire surface of your guacamole and then pour it off right before serving. Not so sure that would be my choice, but worth a try sometime. The pits do seem to work, but they don’t look appetizing, and scraping them out of your guacamole before serving could be a pain. There are several tricks to keeping your guacamole fresh and green. Take your pick!