Avocado (fat replacer, emulsifier)

What is an Avocado?

• Avocado is a fatty fruit with a creamy consistency.
• Avocados contain high quality essential fatty acids and proteins that are easily digested.
• Because of their low sugar content and absence of starch, avocados are excellent for diabetics or sugar-sensitive disorders.
• This fruit contains vitamins A, B1,B2, B3, C, iron, phosphorous and magnesium.
• Avocado is high in vitamin E which slows down aging.
• They are a slow burning fuel compared with fruit and vegetable juices which digest quickly.
• The avocado, or alligator pear, is a common evergreen found in Mexico and Central and South America. There are over 400 varieties.
• Blended with fruit, it produces a highly nutritious baby food.

Avocado Varieties:

• Hass avocado ~ rich and creamy.  Best for guacamole, mashing, sauces and soups.
• Fuete avocado ~ slightly less rich and creamy
• Pinkerton  avocado ~ slightly less rich and creamy
• Reed avocado ~ flesh stays firm when ripe, best for salads

What does it replace in recipes?

• Avocado work great in recipes to replace butter, cream, eggs and mayonnaise in sauces, dips, mousses, and desserts.

How to use it?

• When incorporating it into a recipe be careful that you don’t over process it or it will become very fluffy.
• Works great in raw soups, salad dressings, as a spread on crackers or raw breads and many other recipes.
• TIP: Sprinkle lemon or lime juice over peeled avocados to prevent discoloring.

How to buy an Avocado:

• Unripe avocados will be dark green and hard.
• As they begin to ripen, they turn a dark greenish brown and become slightly soft to thumb pressure.
• The inner flesh of a ripened avocado will be a gorgeous lime green without any brown spots.
• The easiest way to remove the flesh is to cut the fruit in half, lengthwise, and twist open.
• The pit will remain in one side. Remove by embedding knife into the pit and twisting.

How to ripen an Avocado:

• To ripen avocados slowly, put them in the fruit bin of your refrigerator (no apples please, that would be mixed signals). Avocados can be kept for up to two weeks this way. They will ripening very slowly, so when you take them out of the refrigerator they will be ready to eat in a couple of days.
• To ripen an avocado faster, place in a brown paper bag and set in your oven with only the oven light on.
• Once avocados are at a desired stage of ripeness, they may be refrigerated for up to 2 to 3 days

Freezing Avocados:

• You can freeze mashed fresh, ripe avocados if you want to have an “emergency supply” of avocados on hand for guacamole.
• To freeze, mash the avocados with a fork.  Add one teaspoon lime or lemon juice per avocado and mix well.  The best way to freeze the prepared mashed avocados is to use a freeze-weight zip lock bag.  Fill the bag with the mashed avocado. Remove the air from the bag and then zip closed and freeze.
• Thaw the frozen avocados in the refrigerator or place the container in a bowl of cool water to accelerate thawing.

How to dice an Avocado:

Score the inner meat with a butter knife both horizontally and laterally.  These will be the cubes when the skin is turned towards inside out.  If the avocado is ripe flesh should fall out as the skin is turned.  Repeat this with the remaining avocados.  Place the cubes into a medium-sized bowl.

Posted on Monday, December 27th, 2010 at 12:05 am. Filed under: Special Ingredients RSS 2.0 feed.