Making guacamole at the Lakes Park Farmers Market in Fort Myers, Florida.    By Paul Goldfinger. Left click for larger view.

A  Blogfinger Guacamole Festival

By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger:

Guacamole was invented by the Aztec Indians in Central Mexico. They grew avocados and tomatoes and they even had corn from which they made tortillas. It’s unlikely that they used tortilla chips and guacamole dips while watching their equivalent of Monday night football, which was human sacrifice on a grand scale.

Aztec mask. Louvre. Note the guacamole color. If you eat too much mole, you can get that color.

Cortes, the Spanish invader, conquered the Aztecs in the 16^th century, taking over Tenochtitlan, the capital. He introduced horses and onions to the Indians. Maybe he liked guacamole (the ‘g’ was pronounced like a ‘w’) and improved the recipe with his onions, because the dish and its name have survived to this day. He apparently didn’t like the name of the place, because it became Mexico City.  And Montezuma, the Aztec loser-king, wound up having a gastrointestinal disturbance named for him.

On the other hand, let’s remember that the Aztecs also gave us chocolate and popcorn. Currently you can find a big selection of avocados at Wegmans where they can show you how to select the ripe ones and how to ripen the hard ones.

They even have recipes for “mole” (pr. mo’lee), which is how the dish is called at our house, so named by our sons Michael and Stephen.  Eileen must be related to the Aztecs (Jewish Aztecs are called Jaztecs) because she makes a mean mole while playing Miles in the kitchen.

Several years ago  we were at the Lakes Park Farmers Market in Fort Myers, Fla.  where some guys have a business making big batches of mole to sell to the tourists — maybe like Montezuma’s guacamole makers did.

It’s fun to watch them make their recipe in big stainless steel vats. They have an assembly line including a device for quickly separating the pit, the skin and the green  fruit that actually goes into the recipe.

Wegmans  sometimes has a special display for May 5  to promote guacamole among the gringos of Monmouth County.

Selecting avocados at the Farmers market. Paul Goldfinger photo. Ft.Myers, Fla.

GUACAMOLE RECIPE:  by Eileen Goldfinger, house and garden editor  @Blogfinger

2 Haas avocados 2 Campari or small plum tomatoes seeded and diced,  ¼ cup diced red onion,  ½ Jalapeno pepper sliced and minced  (optional,) ½ lime,  ½ teaspoon garlic powder,  ½ teaspoon sea salt,  ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, Tabasco sauce to taste (optional.)

Cut two ripe avocados in half and remove the pits and the skin. Use a fork to mash one avocado in a medium size bowl. Add the tomatoes, onion, Jalapeno pepper, garlic, salt and black pepper to the mashed avocado.

Stir gently together. Dice the second avocado into half inch pieces and add to bowl and stir gently.  Squeeze the juice from the half lime into the avocado mixture and stir.  Add Tobasco sauce, one or two drops at a time, and taste to adjust seasoning.

Serves four   (that would be four regular people or two Goldfingers)

SOUNDTRACK:  Oh no!   It’s those mariachis; they follow me wherever I go in Mexico.  Montezuma’s revenge is not gastrointestinal, it’s those darned  mariachis.

Quick, Eileen, let’s run away and buy a fajita from the guy  with the horse and wagon on the street.  Don’t worry—I’m a doctor.

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