Avocado. Is it really so untasty or I am doing something wrong?
from username_1@programming.dev to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 07 Mar 16:27
https://programming.dev/post/46831588
from username_1@programming.dev to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 07 Mar 16:27
https://programming.dev/post/46831588
Avocado. I heard much about these fruits/berries/whatever. But I am a poor guy from a very poor and totally non-tropical country. So apples and carrots are the sweetest things around and apples become too expensive too.
Still I bought a few. Just out of curiosity. It tastes like… butter block. Internet says that it should be this way. So… Why people eat it? Maybe it is bad alone and\or raw, but after some preparation it is delicious?
Am I missing something?
#nostupidquestions
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Try a touch of salt.
Salt? Hmm… Not sure if you’re joking…
No, look up a recipe for a guacamole for instance.
Also you might be eating them before they’re ripe (it can be hard to tell), though I think that’s more a texture thing than taste.
They’re generally better as an ingredient in other dishes. I don’t think many people just sit down and eat one plain.
It’s definitely a taste thing too. Unripe avacados have very little flavor.
They aren’t joking but Avacados are never sweet like Apple/grapes/peaches/bananas etc
It’s more for savory dips than sweet things. Id compare its uses more to that of an artichoke
No, really. Add some salt and spoon it out of its hull.
Or even better, add salt and some lemon juice, and mash it. Now you’ve made guacamole.
Sweet chilli sauce where the stone was; perfect with eggs for breakfast
Salt is a must if eaten on it’s own. Touch of fresh lime takes it to another level.
I like an avocado sandwich with garlic salt. super tasty.
Avocados are amazing with salt and pepper.
One of my favorite snacks as a kid was a slice of bread with avocado smashed up and spread all over it with a sprinkling of salt. I’d fold it in half and dunk it in milk. So good
I almost threw up
You had me at the first half
A vinaigrette works too.
Why would that be a joke??
I think some people genuinely like the taste, but I’m with you - they just taste kind of ‘meh’. Certainly not as nice as most other things.
They are extremely healthy, though - they’re considered a top-tier superfood.
Agreed excellent in a smoothie no thanks in any other dish.
Mash it on something with salt/lemon/maybe tomato
The quality can vary by the avocado. If it is slightly stringy, brown or metallic, the fruit is bad. Even a good avocado still has a mild flavor. I think that avocado is good with salt, cumin, tomato salsa, or garlic powder. In some recipes, people add cilantro or lime juice, too.
Avocados are good for sandwiches, but you can also make guacamole dip with them. The guacamole pairs with chips. I don’t think people eat avocados on their own very much.
At least in the Americas, you don’t buy avocado for sweetness. It’s basically a replacement for fat (with fats of its own). Think turkey bacon avocado, for example: turkey is a leaner meat, avocado supplements that, and bacon adds flavor and saltiness.
If you must get something sweet out of it, I’ve had good luck mixing it with a sprinkle of sugar, a splash of lime juice, and a little hot sauce if you want to be frisky.
Yeah. Slice it and put it on a sandwich with a fried egg. Or chop it when it’s still firm and throw it in a salad. It’s good, but it’s not really for eating like an apple. They added creaminess and texture to savory things.
Depends on the avocado and how it is prepared.
I removed the pit and shoveled the rest in my mouth :) Like any other fruit or berry I ever saw.
It should be very soft when ripe, and I always add salt.
I always mash it with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, and touch of lime juice.
the add it to eggs or sandwiches or tacos or something.
I uh, appreciate you just going for it raw though
Eating an avocado straight-up like you would other fruits will generally be unpleasant. It needs other food to balance it.
Cut the fruit in half the long way, core it, slice thinly, and serve on top of anything salty, savory or crunchy. Tortilla chips, fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms, ground beef, etc. You’ll have a very different experience :).
Avocados are closer to olives in terms of fruitiness. You don’t eat them alone unless you’re Victoria Beckham.
Think of it like an onion. You’re probably not going to enjoy just chowing down on one.
You can eat avocados with salt and lemon. Also, look up the recipe for guacamole.
Tortillas and tacos are super easy to make yourself. They are actually poor people food. They taste very good with guacamole.
It’s OK to not like stuff that everyone else likes. It happens.
Just so you know, you’re not alone. When avocados are introduced to new markets (this happened a long time ago in the USA), people need to learn how to engage with it. People need to learn how to buy it, how to open it, how to include it in foods.
And, as you’ve heard, indeed it’s not meant to be sweet and instead it’s just like fat. And it’s very healthy fat.
I agree with what someone else said: I’d try making a simple guacamole recipe and eating the guacamole with nachos or tortillas or something like that!
Also, as someone else said, it’s totally fair if you don’t like guacamole. Some people don’t and it’s alright :)
As others have said it’s savory not sweet and guac is a great choice but I put mine in a wrap.
I cook up some chickpeas in barbeque sauce, spread some avocado on a big ol tortilla, throw in some coleslaw and the chickpeas, wrap it up and go to town.
Avocados aren’t sweet and contain a lot of fat, so yes, they kind of taste like a butter block with kind of a vegetable undertone. That’s why they are usually eaten seasoned and as a savory.
That said, if they aren’t traditional in your country, they don’t have that much going for them. I like guacamole, but I don’t think the it justifies the price when there are so many other things to eat.
Don’t think of them as fruits. It’s more like a very rich, creamy vegetable.
By itself it has a mild nutty flavour. When ripe enough to mash, you make guacamole (tonatoes, onion, salt, and freah lime juice) and it becomes amazing.
But on its own, not groundbreaking.
Avocados aren’t supposed to be sweet. I can’t do dairy, so sometimes I’ll use avocado to get that creaminess I’m looking for, but my favorite way to eat them is in guacamole with some tortilla chips.
We see a lot of BLTA’s at restaurants here in the US: a BLT with a couple slices of avocado on top. I’d give that a try as well. Also when checking for ripeness, I usually press the stem area with my thumb slightly. If it gives a little bit, it’s good to go. If it’s rock hard, skip it.
Avocados are definitely more on the savory side of the food spectrum. Culinarily, they’re almost always referred to as a vegetable because of this, despite being a fruit in botanical terms.
As others have said, salt is pretty much always involved in their preparation. Also, for me and most of the people I know, it’s more of an addition to a meal than an actual meal or snack in itself.
I often dice them and put them in rice bowls with cilantro, lime or lemon juice, and whatever other protein I’m using (usually chicken or a fresh fish). They’re also added to citrus heavy or savory Asian fusion dishes a lot, nowadays. Basically, avocado goes well with anything rich and savory or light and citrusy.
Aside from that, they are a popular condiment on sandwiches and wraps and add a hint of their flavor and a really nice texture.
People will also do them somewhat like oysters, though, just halved and with hot sauce and lime or lemon juice.
Regardless, I don’t think anyone I know eats them without preparation/straight.
They are really hard to find ripe. They don't ripen until picked - but unfortunatly there is at best one day between ripe and rotten. That is at best, if they bruise at all while handling they will got rotten fast.
Not really worth buying if you don't live where they grow - about half of the ones I buy are rotten before we can eat them - and I pay 5 times the cost as they go for in a tropical location.
I love this thread so much!
Just to be clear, I’m not laughing at you, OP. I sure wouldn’t know what to do with a pomegranate, and we only learn through asking questions and experimenting.
That being said, the idea of biting into an avocado and expecting it to taste like a banana or apple is funny as hell! Especially the comments where they aren’t quite sure if these people talking about putting it on a sandwich are fucking with them or not.
Golden!
I mean, one time I ate an entire kiwi with the skin cause I had no idea how to eat one so I guess I shouldn’t find this is as hard to believe as I have been.
I did the same with a mango. In public.
Latino here, surprised how somebody would not like avocado while i eat some fried flautas with fresh cheese, cream and avocado on top; My family rarely eats avocado alone; We add it to a soup to give it a fresh taste. mash it; put peppers cilantro, olive oil, onions and a pinch of salt and lime juice to make guacamole; add it to tuna salad, in fact we add it to everything with fish on it; including ceviche, fried fish tacos and tostadas. Some soups and stews can taste great with a few slices of avocado, like tortilla soup, bone marrow soup and caldo tlalpeño.
You can mix it with dried bacon or cream cheese and make a great dip for potato chips.
Smoked mussles + mashed avocados + onions, tomatoes and lime juice, to snack with with tortilla chips.
Avocado is inexpensive where i live so it’s a common ingredient for most recipes, as a fresh buttery flavor to add with some lime and salt to compliment something spicy. It tends to neutralize spicy flavors, so it’s also something nice to add in particularly “hot” food for someone new to those type of flavors.
I’ve never had tuna salad with avocado, and now I really want to try it. Thanks for this!
It’s pretty good! When i was a kid my mom used to make “avocados stuffed with tuna” which was basically to halves of avocado skins filled with tuna salad mixed with mashed avocado!
se me antojaron una flautas de pollito bien crujientes leyendo tu comentario…
Tal vez me haga unas al rato…
Espero que hayas disfrutado tus flautas!
Following others: definitely do not think of avocados as fruit, it’s closer to carrots (has some sweetness, but wouldn’t put it in a fruit salad).
Great easy combos I haven’t seen suggested yet: with bread and feta/salty cheese, with salt pepper and mayonnaise, with oil vinegar and mustard.
I haven’t ever had cooked avocado.
I guess I’m in the minority here, because I quite like avocados on their own. Getting a good one changes everything and getting it at perfect ripeness is important and impacts taste too. If it feels hard, it’s too early. It should have a little bit of give when you squeeze it lightly. If it has black or dark spots inside it’s starting to go. If it has air pockets inside and/or mold you lost your shot - you can still cut off those parts and eat the rest but it will not be at peak tastiness.
You may be allergic to the stuff, XOR you may be in kapha-metabolism, which is incompatible with it.
A little salt on a slice of avocado, can send a vata-metabolism person into heaven.
The book on the fundamental-metabolisms, & there mixed-together versions, is:
kobo.com/…/ayurvedic-healing-a-comprehensive-guid…
IF that book ( & Frawley & Kozak’s “Yoga For YOUR TYPE” ) identifies you as pure-kapha, you’re supposed to not-like-it, because it’s harmful for pure-kapha metabolism’s health.
_ /\ _
PS: for all the Scientism-fundamentalists, DO THE EXPERIMENT of discovering YOUR metabolism/dosha, & then preparing pairs of dishes, such that each pair has 1 dish with only-aggravating-of-your-metabolism & 1 dish with only-pacifying-of-your-metabolism, & LET THE EVIDENCE ITSELF SPEAK.
For people of pure-metabolisms/doshas, that should be sufficient evidence.
For people of mixed-metabolisms, it may not be possible to get a clear difference, & for all-3-mixed-together, there isn’t any possible way to convince them of any such thing.
This is 1 of many peer-reviewed actual-evidence-based-science articles that backs Ayurveda: www.nature.com/articles/nindia.2015.148
There are around 9 THOUSAND articles listed in PubMed also backing the evidence-based position: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=ayurveda
Ideological “medicine” that “identifies as” evidence-based medicine can go eat rocks.
_ /\ _
I hope you didn’t just bite into an avocado.
No idea what country are you from but it might be that the avocados you get there are just not that good. I’m from Chile (South America) and here some eat avocados almost daily, my family sure does.
To be clear, the avocado should be soft when you squeeze it, but not too much as to be easily smashed, like an orange but maybe softer. If it’s firm like an apple, it’s not ripe yet. If it’s too soft, it may have gone wrong already and will have an acid taste and rancid smell.
Image for reference.
Another thing to look for is the little hole / part where the branch connects to the avocado (left part on the image). It sometimes falls off, so if it looks white, the avocado may have started to rot from there inwards; that whole should ideally look brownish, green it’s good too.
Just cut it in half, take the seed off (just use this tip, hit the seed with a sharped knife and twist it, otherwise you may have an avocado hand incident). Take it off the skin with a spoon and smash it with a fork, then imply add salt.
I forgot to add.
Treat it more like a vegetable than a fruit. Put it in a sandwich with some ham and tomatoes, eat it with some meat and potatoes, etc.
A lot of interesting opinions on avocados here! I had no idea that most people salt them, but I certainly don’t. Someone commented that they’re like carrots, but I don’t find them to be anything remotely like carrots. And some people said they’re not good on their own, but IMO they’re delicious on their own.
I slice them up and eat them with crackers instead of cheese, and with tortilla chips. I love them on top of bagels with cheese. I dice them and mix them into salads for creamy fatty goodness, and sometimes I’ll just cut one in half and eat it with a spoon. If I’m eating curry then I’ll slice one up and put it on the side. I eat at least one avocado every day, but they’re cheap where I live in the US ($3-4 for 6 large ones).
Pro-tip: they do spoil quickly at room temperature, so once they reach peak ripeness you can put them in the fridge and they’ll be good for 5-6 days.
You can make a faux chocolate pudding with avocados…process some avocado, cocoa, milk or substitute, drop of vanilla, sweeten to taste, very adaptable…fools anyone and pleases everyone.
There are two major kinds of avocado. The internet lost its shit about palta, famous for its use in Mexican guacamole. It’s about the size of a pear, with bumpy skin. Best served as part of savory dish (seasoned with salt).
The other one is bigger, rounder, and has smooth, shiny skin. Known as aguacate or abacate. Best served as a sweet dish. A banana+abacate+milk smoothie with a bit of sugar is delicious. Also eaten with a sprinkle of sugar and a squeeze of lime.
Using the “wrong” kind of avocado is possible, but requires adaptation and even then the results are sub par.
It does taste like a block of earthy butter. It’s absolutely delicious on its own. Even more delicious if cut into thin slices; that somehow intensifies the flavour.
It sounds like you’re just not into that flavour. It’s not for everyone.
Yeah I fuckin love eating a whole stick of butter straight
you’re speaking my love language
Seems like you’re missing the part of the internet with, like, recipes. How did you manage to get here, without looking up Avocado on or as food?
Kind of like how reddit is overrun now with AI that keep posting questions to those “Peter, explain the joke” type subs which have absolutely exploded in the last few years, I think more than a few are spreading out of containment.
At least I hope so.
I would literally prefer the creepy, unnerving idea that artificial entities are prowling our forums trying to learn about humanity than the idea that there are people out there who can’t figure out the most basic things.
Yeah, it’s rich and fatty, which makes it more suitable than a carrot for a sandwich. But the flavour in its own isn’t hugely interesting to me, but with lime or chilli or something tangy the creamy texture works wonders.
Add mustard.
Avocado is like mushy peat - it’s fucking awful.
Even the tiniest bit in a taco or whatever ruins it for me - I find it that awful.
I don’t like guac.
It makes me wonder if there’s a cilantro thing with avocado, because dirt tastes better (and I love cilantro).
It’s good with salt some oil and some bread. You’re right. It is better with other things rather then raw. You can also make them into a great dip for corn chips
Weird Asian hack for ya, Avo + soy sauce on rice is weirdly very good. Wife does that sometimes, sometimes with other stuff like natto.
Chuck on some sesame seeds too. It’s really good with katsu and rice when you don’t feel like curry.
But you lost me at natto…🤢
To be fair, natto lost me as well, lol. It’s an acquired taste I didn’t grow up with. But my wife and kids love it so… cheap eats.
This is why I’m practically addicted to avocado sushi rolls.
Avcados need salt and acid to be good. Next time try in a salad with a sharp dressing; or just cubed with lime juice, chili powder, and salt. It’s amazing added to a bowl (but not the pot!) of chicken soup.
I didn’t like avocado until I tried it in a bowl of chicken tortilla soup with a bunch of cheese and avocado at the bottom of the bowl.
Avocado alone needs some salt. Otherwise, you need to prepare stuff with it.
It seems you’re expecting it to act as a fruit. Avocados are used as gourmet ingredients in the west. If you want a sweeter application of it, look up southeast asian desserts made from avocado. It’s usually combined with milk, sugar, and sometimes ice to make it cold and refreshing.
In France (a non tropical country with imported avocado), we eat them tender but not yet muchy, sliced in half, the kernel out and vinaigrette in the cavity left. The vinaigre balanced out the fattyless of the flesh. In other recipe, it would be mixed with something in small cube in a salad, as a spread in a sandwich or a cold sauce (in that case muchy) and they bring the fat of the dish.
Avocado straight out the fridge might have less flavor than if it sit for a bit outside of the fridge before being eaten. I never found avocado sweet but I only eat cheap imported one pick up before maturity.
Hey, how fresh are they? I never liked avocados until I tried them in California, in season. It was like night and day.
But as others have said, they’re not really “sweet”.
I put avocado slices on toast with fried eggs on top.
Try them with some Worcester Sauce. Amazing contrast but flavorful.
IMO it’s natural mayo: add bit of freshly cracked pepper and salt. If you can handle the spice: paprika or chilli pepper
Is paprika already too spicy for some people?
I fail to find any taste to paprika. I always thought it was for the colour.
There are plenty of dishes especially European dishes with smoked paprika, and a few middle eastern dishes
I’ve come to enjoy it and use it regularly, but that’s because I’ve been working on increasing my spice tolerance through the past few years. Once upon a time, it definitely hit me too hard.
For me it’s: sensory differences + a European family background (I wasn’t exposed to much spice growing up) = incredibly low spice tolerance.
A note on the sensory differences, I ironically have a high pain tolerance (despite spice being processed as pain), extremely low tolerance for being tickled, and I find scratching to be a pleasant sensation. Sensory processing differences are fascinating. Brains are so weird.
It’s savory, not sweet. Some salt does wonders, tabasco is nice too :)
Little bit of salt and a squeeze of line, maybe some cilantro, and you can put that shit on most anything!
This is what worked for me. I never saw the appeal until I started seasoning it with other things. I’ll put a thin layer of avo, salt, lime, garlic powder, paprika on sandwiches instead of mayo and it’s incredible.
That’s almost guacamole
Minus the tomatoes and onion, yes. But it retains a ton of structural integrity when you don’t have the acid and water from a tomato, so it is more versatile.
I guess it depends on the cultivar? For example avocado cultivars in my country are more milder and sweeter while in America the avocado cultivars have a stronger taste.
I would say definitely it’s a side dish, not something that you eat alone. It’s also very good to put slices on toast. Add pepper and salt on top. You can also drink it as smoothie. It finds its way to salads like egg salad (eggs, avocado, onion, mayo, mustard). Btw, butter tastes good raw 😄
My girlfriend’s dog managed to break into a cooler bag I had. What was he after? The plant-based butter I had in there. Bro destroyed the bag so bad we had to toss it out, and all because he wanted butter.
Don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be enjoyed on its own.
Without getting too foodie about it. Its blandness is its strength, it adds moisture and a creamy texture to foods, especially salads sandwiches and tacos without using unnecessary oil or animal fats and it counts as a fruit/vegetable in your diet.
it’s not just you, outside of Guacamole dip I can’t tolerate it.
Same here. Guacamole is totally fine. But besides that, I can not understand how anyone likes to eat Avocados.
<img alt="1000004488" src="https://programming.dev/pictrs/image/c5a55e2d-c312-4abe-a5c8-61a64a8cff07.jpeg">
I’m convinced anyone who says that either has a dulled sense of taste, or is confusing the texture for flavor. I could see arguing that they feel similar, since they definitely both have a soft texture. But in my experience, they absolutely do not taste the same. Avocado has a flavor, it’s delicate but it’s there. Clean penis just tastes like any other clean skin.
But not all clean skin is as smooth as a penis head. Matching texture for texture makes more sense.
… I’m gonna regret having this in my comment history, aren’t I?
Or the avocado is bland? not all avocado are built equally.
I would hedge that the penis consists of more than just regular skin there is a fair amount of erectile tissue in there as well, though i can’t vouch for a scientific difference is the taste experience.
are you not even putting salt and pepper on it?
Cause thats the most barebones way to eat it… Its okay just by itself, but it really needs at least salt and pepper, if its not part of a larger recipe or something.
You don’t like butter block?
Avocados aren’t really supposed to be sweet. More like savory, with that buttery texture. They’re really good on toast, no matter what the boomers say.
Others have made some good suggestions. Salt, pepper, chili sauce or sriracha. A fried egg if you want it. Top notch.
“Salt. I hear so much about salt. I tried a heaping spoonful and it was nasty. What am I doing wrong?”
Same energy, my friend. This is why cooking is such an amazing skill. You can take 10 things that aren’t particularly tasty, and create something amazing.
I always though avocados taste were kind of bland compared to so many other foods. But when I was made aware that it actually tastes like a clean penis, and it actually does, I’ve come to enjoy the taste more.
All the unclean penises weep.
People down vote like it’s a shitpost, but it the honest reason how I got accustomed to the taste.
If your love of gobbling cock also helps you enjoy the taste of healthy food, then I do not see the problem :D
But this begs the question. Do you really enjoy the taste of cock or the taste of clean.
I’d say the former, but not unhappy with the latter. In the case of avocado, it was for me a case of making sense of the taste. And it worked once I had a reference to attach it to.
People like it because it has a creamy, refreshing texture, and a subtle flavour. Try toasting a slice of sourdough bread and smearing avocado on it. Top with sesame seeds if you can get them, and salt and pepper. Or you can try it on things, like people have it with chilli (not the peppers, the Mexican dish). Avocado with white rice is also nice. Mix smashed avocado with lemon juice to make it taste better.
Where I live, we put sugar on it.
You live in a strange world.
No wonder you are in constant pain.
Here it is strange to eat it savory, we do see it more like a fruit. Just recently we started to use it to make guacamole because of mexican restaurants influence.
I love raw plain avocado but most people don’t and wouldn’t eat it like that
Try salt and lime/lemon or try putting it on bread with some type of meat.
Fwiw, I’m latina and generally not a big fan of them. Growing up, my dad ate at least one a day. It’s a huge thing in Hispanic households. They’re too bland
You seem to be expecting a sweet fruit. It isn’t that. It’s fatty and savory. Your post reads like “Fruit is really expensive in my area so I started buying butter… why does anyone like this stuff?”
Spread it on bread and sprinkle on some taco seasoning and salt. You’ll thank me.
There are different varieties, my coworker from Brazil said the ones they have there are sweet.
actually it might have just been because they put sugar on it, I forgot about that party until I read someone else’s comment 😅
I used to think I hated it as I only encountered it in guacomoli that always had cilantro. Finally had it on its own and realized I lover it. And yeah its basically has a buttery texture but with its own flavor that pretty much goes with any savory dish. Its main problem is the same as bananas. Unripe is no good and it has a short ripe window before it becomes overripe and you have to use it in the window. Man I would love bananas and avocado that could be held and used like potatoes. Similar to avocado I would put bananas on pretty much anything sweet.
Try having one with some marmite
How good they taste depends on thier ripening too, if you open them too early it tastes like wood, too late and they are very bitter.
I don’t eat avocado like fruit, I eat it like a vegetable. So cut it up with onion and peppers and dress with lemon, oil and salt and pepper. Or mash on toast & top with goat cheese.
The only way i have ever had it sweet is avocado ice cream, and that involves a lot of sugar. It’s not sweet at all on its own.
From your description, I’d say you’re missing at least some salt and pepper.