Avocado’s sweet side
ASK cookbook author Pat Tanumihardja about some of her favourite food memories growing up in Indonesia, and avocados will figure prominently in her response.
“Half an avocado, drizzled with palm sugar syrup,” she says with a happy sigh.
In many cultures, the avocado is treated as the fruit it actually is, sometimes topped off with a squirt of chocolate syrup or sweetened condensed milk and, more often, incorporated into sweet drinks. The frosty avocadobased shake known in Vietnam as sinh to bo is a simple combination of avocado, condensed milk, ice cubes and sugar syrup that is replicated around the world: Indonesians add coffee or chocolate syrup, calling it es alpukat, while Brazilians enliven the same shake with a squirt of tart lime juice, and a Moroccan version sweetens the mix with sugar and a hint of orange flower water.
Known across Asia as “butter fruit”, the avocado has a mild flavour and creamy texture that makes it a remarkably adaptable ingredient for many recipes, including desserts. While avocados are normally consumed raw and can become bitter if cooked over direct heat, they can be mashed or pureed in baking, and are increasingly being found whipped into smoothies and bubble teas as Westerners discover that avocados can go far beyond standard chip-anddip fare. Using avocados for something besides guacamole or other savoury dishes was a tough sell for Pati Jinich, host of the PBS television series, Pati’s Mexican Table, who grew up in Mexico City.
“The first time I ever heard of using avocados in something sweet was from my sister, Sharon, who is a vegan,” Jinich says. “She made this avocado chocolate mousse, and I was totally disgusted by the thought of it.”
But because of its thick, buttery consistency, avocado does seem to particularly shine when paired with chocolate, notes Tanumihardja. “Chocolate mousse is a great way to introduce someone to avocado as a dessert, because you really don’t know there’s avocado in it,” she said.
Inspired by her sister’s mousse, Jinich began experimenting with avocados in smoothies, pancakes and popsicles, leading her to create desserts such as Avocado and Coconut Ice Cream, a surprisingly rich dairy-free confection with a velvety mouthfeel reminiscent of gelato.
“I found that avocados could be one of the most luscious, sensuous, silky, exuberant ingredients ever,” says Jinich. “These days, I’m also putting it in cakes.”
The creamy texture of ripe avocados makes it a natural ingredient for rich desserts that are deceptively healthful, because, although there’s up to 28 grams of fat in a medium-size fruit, it is largely monounsaturated fat, which can lower LDL cholesterol. A tablespoon of avocado has 25 calories, compared to 100 calories in the same amount of butter, and just over two grams of fat, primarily unsaturated, in contrast to 12 grams of mostly saturated fat in butter. Substitute mashed avocado one-to-one for at least some of the butter in baked goods and suddenly that brownie seems like less of a no-no. – The Washington Post