I have to admit: I do not regard Avocado as an item regularly in my shopping basket mostly because the ones on the shelf are hardly of any good quality. Still, every now and then I get some and prepare a Guacamole as a side dish. This time I replaced the tomatoes with Salmon roe, the fresh chili with a Japanese Chili oil brought in Kyoto and the parsley with some basil leaf. Plenty of pepper and lemon juice.

Guacamole (called guacamol in Central America and Cuba) is an avocado-based relish or dip.

Of Aztec origin, it was originally valued for its high fat and vitamin content. Guacamole was originally made by mashing the avocado with a molcajete (a type of mortar and pestle) and adding tomatoes and salt. After the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, guacamole became popular in Spain. Since avocados failed to grow well in Spain guacamole remained an American food.

The name guacamole comes from Mexican Spanish via Nahuatl ahuacamolli, from ahuacatl (=”avocado”) + molli (=”sauce”). In Spanish it is pronounced /ɣʷakaˈmole/; in American English it is pronounced /ËŒgwÉ‘kəˈmoÊŠli/ or sometimes in British English /ËŒgwækəˈməʊli/.