3/20/06 | Avocados
[ Currently Eating: Wheat Bread Toast ]
[Note: I’ve been having major issues with my right shoulder from using the computer too much. Oh, the evils of technology. As such, you may notice Cheap Eats posts a little shorter and less frequent in coming weeks.]
All my life, I’ve lived in an Avocado Paradise.
It’s the combination of the mild Southern California climate with my parent’s backyard avocado trees that contributed most to this paradise. Growing up, I thought EVERYONE had avocado trees in their backyards. I had no idea that they weren’t the norm for most folks. Until I moved out.
So I realized I’ve been taking avocados for granted. That realization came one day after a trip down the produce aisle. Avocados can be crazy expensive. I wasn’t about to pay two dollars or whatever the cost was for ONE squishy looking avocado. I headed over to the parents place, where the two trees in the backyard have been consistently producing fruit twice a year for over 40 years.
Some people don’t like avocados, because they are sort of fattening. Or they also don’t like the puke-green-brown color they take on after having been mashed up for guacamole and left out for awhile.
They are pretty high on my list of Cheap Eats, however. Mostly because they are free for me, but also because of their versatility. You can put them in salads, tuck them in burritos, smash them for 7 layer dip, or eat them on toast.
Eating them on toast is very much in line with my earlier post on Ghetto Pizza. But this is one of my earliest memories of breakfast. My mom would make avocado toast in the mornings. Usually it was just salt and pepper with mashed avocado on wheat toast. I hear some people like to put sugar with mashed avocados but I never dug that.
By the way, adding some lemon juice to avocados can help stop it from turning brown. It still tastes the same when the color changes. It just doesn’t look too pretty.
Price: Free
Found at: Parent’s House
Cheap Eats Score: 8/10
March 20th, 2006 at 9:57 am
My neighbor’s tree has been taunting me. It’s a huge avocado tree laden with fruit right now … but it’s not ready yet (it usually is in February).
They’re the best neighbors in the world, when we ask them to bring guacamole they make a whole MIXING BOWL of the stuff and we eat it all.
We usually put lime juice on our guac or avocado mash because that’s the tree we have. I prefer lemon, but for cheap eats you take what you can get.
BTW - when I lived on the east coast we could only get Florida avocados, which are much more watery and not as nutty and smooth. California (and Mexico) have the best avocados.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Hi! Hey, I like avocados too…my favorite is to drizzle some olive oil on them, a dash of salt/pepper, and chow down. Hope ur shoulder gets better!
March 20th, 2006 at 10:38 am
I love avocados! And they have good fat not bad fat, so those that don’t eat it for fat can stick it. LOL You can make salad dressing out of them too! I squeeze lime juice on them to keep them from browning.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
i hope your shoulder gets better. you are right. avocados can be pricey in parts of the country away from where they are grown. i made a sandwich recently that was new to me. avocado on toast reminded me of it. i saw this on the internet somewhere. i mashed an avocado and mixed in some lime juice and chopped onion. i used salmon from a pouch and spread the avvocado mix on bread and then the salmon. it was an interesting mix of flavors. i had a coupon for the salmon so maybe that qualifies for cheap eats?
March 21st, 2006 at 6:56 am
cybele - i never had the Florida type avocados before… interestingly, my mom was saying a relative from hawaii used to say that their avocados are different than california, i think they are smaller? (maybe marvo can answer this). Apparently, they had somehow brought a whole plant to the mainland and tried to plant it to grow similar avocados, but they ended up exactly like the california ones. From this they deduced it was something to do with soil or climate…
harie - yeh, i have eaten it this way too.. very delicious.
andie - well, my friend’s dog used to eat the avocados that fell from their tree and it got really, really chubby… but i agree it’s probably healthier than a lot of junk food. hm… so lime juice seems to be the acid of choice. I’ve used both before, there is a lime tree out back that produces some fruit.
jim - I never tried it with salmon, interesting… sort of like a ceviche?
March 21st, 2006 at 7:00 am
Here’s a hint — I don’t know where in LA you live but always go to Mexican and Chinese markets for your avocadoes. The same avocado that costs $1.50 at Ralphs costs $0.33 at Carniceria Don Juan or El Super.
Same for cilantro — our local Ralphs sells cilantro for $1 a bunch, whereas the Carniceria Vallarta by the Burbank airport sells it 14 bunches for $1 — and limes ($1.19 a pound vs. 4 lbs. for $1).
March 21st, 2006 at 7:28 am
das - i definitely hit up the chinese markets since I’m surrounded by them. They have green onions at 10 bunches for a DOLLAR, whereas Ralph’s sells it for 69 cents PER bunch. But, I need to go to the “american” markets for certain things and that’s where I saw the wallet-busting avocados. My mom actually hits up the carnicerias often, but I haven’t really went to them. Though I should. I think I remember seeing cabbage at 5 cents a pound or something insane one time at one of the mexican markets.
March 21st, 2006 at 7:52 am
I grew up eating avocados or “pears” as we call them in Jamaica. We would slice them up and have them on the side with whatever meal we ate. I haven’t eaten them in a while - being a broke student. One thing , avocados must be eaten at the right time, or else, it’s just too hard, or too squishy like you said, and eating a bad avocado can make you swear off them for life.
March 21st, 2006 at 8:10 am
Tanya - do you remember if the avocados in Jamaica were as large as the ones in the U.S.? I must agree on there being an optimum window of opportunity for avocado consumption. Just today, I had to toss 2 of them from my parent’s house that were way past their prime…
March 22nd, 2006 at 12:11 pm
mmmmm….I love avocados!
but here in Ohio they are expensive. I like the avocados on toast idea, though. I will definitely have to try that…
March 22nd, 2006 at 2:46 pm
you are SO lucky! don’t take it for granted. those photos look great! the ones i get at the store are scrawny, brown-spotted, and so pricey. they don’t look nearly that full of buttery smooth fruit and blemish-free.
avocados (-does?) are so good for you. they are a superfood.
jim, where do you get salmon in a pouch? do you mean smoked salmon, in a plastic pouch?
March 23rd, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I enjoy reading your blog and am disappointed to hear that you won’t be updating it as much. However, I do understand why. I hope that your shoulder feels better soon!
I’m a fan of avocados in moderation, particularly in guacamole form. I just can’t eat them in a salad because of their texture. It just feels weird in my mouth.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:56 pm
The best way to eat an avacado, slice in half, drench with french dressing and eat. It is so good!
March 23rd, 2006 at 8:57 pm
bevbear - the prices range tho… sometimes they are sky high here too.
rachel - yeah, was wondering if there is an alternate plural spelling…
miriam - i’ve just switched computers temporarily. hopefully that helps out. avocados in salad is pretty much at given on friday’s night dinner at the folks house.
susan - i actually like them with italian dressing, delish!
March 24th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
The ones I saw in Hawaii are HUGE, maybe 3 times the normal size, but taste more like the Florida ones mentioned.
March 24th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Guess I only had one type! http://www.hawaiifruit.net/avo2.jpg
March 26th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Avocados, like any other food item, aren’t that fattening when eaten in reasonable amounts, and they’re full of vitamins, protein, and good fat. And they’re really quite tasty!
I eat them as guac, of course, but my FAVORITE way to eat them is in wedges, with lemon-herb seasoning. DELISH!
March 30th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Tom Selleck grows avocados but dislikes them. I don’t know how I know this, but I do. Also - the television character Lorelei Gilmore on the Gilmore Girls dislikes avocados. This gave me great pause as to the quality of said tv show.
March 30th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Often when I cut open an avocado it will be green and yellow but have brown places also. Can I eat the brown also?
March 31st, 2006 at 8:52 am
marc - thanks for that chart… I had no idea!
sparkina - yeah, you definitely don’t want to eat TOO much, but they sure are good. I’m ripening some as we speak.
bingsy - I have a lot of useless facts in my head as well… actually there are MOSTLY useless facts in my head.
bevosearch - I don’t know if I would chance the brown parts. I usually cut them out. You are talking brown parts right after opening up the avocado, right? Because it turns brown naturally if it is left out exposed to air (if no citrus in it to stop it). Maybe someone else can answer this.
October 5th, 2007 at 10:15 am
If I remember right it won’t hurt to eat the brown spots but they are usually woody and not tasty. Cutting it out is your best bet. Enjoy!!!
October 8th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I bought a tree from wayside gardens called a don gilloy has anyone boughten this tree with any luck of producing Fruit?
July 25th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Im glad Marc mentioned the huge avocados in Hawaii. No one I have talked to has a clue about that subject. I was on the big island in 84 and again in 85. On the Kona coast, south at the Captain Cook memorial, right on the side of the main road we stopped to shoot a pic. I asked friends what the big tree was up the hill behind the monument. Not sure, we climbed up to look. I thought it was a large as an Oak, and totally shocked to see it was an Avocado tree, with the biggest avocados I had ever seen in my life. Each of us could only hold 3 in our arms. With no exageration they were at least as large as grapefruit. For 20 years I have been asking if anyone knows the name of that variety. If anyone plans a trip to the big island, do find that monument along side the road, see if the tree is still on the hill behind it, and let me know. If anyone knows the variety name, please share.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:38 am
I live on the north tip of the Big Island — the Kohala Penninsula. I have five avocado trees in my yard. Three are the huge kind that are, indeed, as big as a grapefruit. I sent a friend a picture of one the other day, and she couldn’t believe it. The stone is as big as the bottom portion of a regular avocado. Their flesh is pure green and yellow with none of the stringy brown stuff. I have no idea what their actual name is though. Two of the trees, planted about twenty years ago are about thirty-five feet tall. When they fall on the ground, they sound like coconuts. That’s how I know it’s time to go out and get an avocado.