Originally published on June 14, 2014
I love guacamole. A lot. But I have a problem. Every time I make it, I can’t eat it all at once and I put it in the fridge. But an awful, awful thing can happen to guac when it’s put in the fridge. Air gets to it. It oxidizes. And that beautiful green guacamole that you got just perfect turns into a brown goopy mess. No matter how good it tastes, there’s not a chance you’re going to want it after that, and it will probably end up in the trash. But wait! Before you throw one more bowl of guacamole in the trash, there is something you can do to stop this from happening.
First, forget about everything else you’ve heard about on the Internet (yes, I realize you’re reading this on the Internet, but mine is a solution that actually works.) The advice you’ll typically find include things such as placing a piece of plastic wrap right over the guacamoleto keep it from turning brown. That’s not bad, but it gets even crazier, including putting the avocado pit in the middle (um, what does that do?!) and pouring water over the plastic wrap once it’s been laid right over top of the guacamole. This is supposed to seal the guacamole in its own little airtight bubble, and keep it from oxidizing – therefore keeping it from turning brown. I’ve tried all of these methods, and they just don’t work. In fact, the simplest way – simply putting a piece of plastic wrap over the guac is the best thing for keeping it from turning brown. That was the case for me anyway, until I really thought about it and came up with a new way to do it.
It’s easy. Fold down the top of a realable bag just as you would if you were filling it up with frosting to pipe onto a cake or other pastry. Using a spoon, place your guacamole into the bag, making sure to keep it at the very bottom of the bag and being careful not to smear it onto the sides of the bag (or at least try to do that as little as possible.) Close the resealable bag and then, squeeze all of the guacamole down as far as you can into the bottom of the bag. Once it’s as far down as it will go, start rolling the guac up and over itself, just as you would a burrito or sandwich wrap, until you’ve reached the top of the bag. Then, you can just put the bag in the fridge and the next time you reach for it, your guac will be just as green as it was when you first made it.
The reason why this works is because when you roll the bag right around the guacamole, there is no chance for air to get to it. It’s even better than laying the plastic wrap right on the surface of the guac because there are no little holes or spaces where oxygen can get through and turn it brown. The guacamole at the top of this post was in the fridge for two days and there wasn’t a brown spot to be found. That might not sound like a lot, but anyone who’s tried to keep guacamole nice and green for any length of time knows what a huge deal that is.
Problem solved now….moving on to the next one!