Jim (JC) Corliss Corliss 1
English 110
December 9, 2014
Research Essay
Avocados-A Versatile Super Fruit “Teach a man his avocado varieties and he'll make fresh guacamole for a lifetime” says, Alastair Bland. His web article, “Know Your Avocado Varieties And When They’re In Season”, Food Republic, describes several different species of avocados cultivated around the world. He also says, “One avocado may not be better than another; each is simply different.” Californians seem to prefer the “oily” varieties, while people of Caribbean descent seem to have affection towards the more “watery” varieties. The San Diego, Los Angles and Santa Barbara areas, as he points out, cultivate approximately 90 percent of avocados sold in America. Many lands in California, once used to raise cattle, are now being converted into profitable avocado orchards. Alastair describes several of the more popular varieties that are grown commercially, and the growing seasons for them. Avocados are being considered the new super fruit. The wide variety of different species of avocados, each has its own distinct characteristics, some being best when eaten raw, and some sharing their best qualities when cooked. Most all people will recognize a bowl of guacamole when it is placed upon the dining table; usually accompanied by an abundantly large quantity of tortilla chips and salsas of some type, but my favorite
Corliss 2 uses for the avocado lean towards the lesser known versions that require them to be cooked. One favorite recipe is Cream of Avocado soup. One popular recipe for cream of avocado soup only contains six basic ingredients and two simple seasonings; avocados, Half-and-Half, onions, garlic, celery, and carrots, along with a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste. It is a creamy velveteen blend of goodness, which is so simple to prepare, but tastes as if you spent years training at Le Cordon Bleu, learning from the world’s foremost experts on the culinary arts. The components must be of the highest quality and the cooking process shall not be rushed. The journey in cooking, picking the best avocados, choosing the proper seasonings, cooking the dish, and finally sharing your carefully prepared meal so others can enjoy, is a great part of the experience. The avocados must be slightly under ripe, so as to hold up to a slow simmer and allow flavor from the delicate, fruity oils to blend seamlessly with the half and half. The preferred cultivar avocado for this method of cooking is the Hass. The Hass has a firm but milky flesh that contains soft and mild flavored oil that is perfect for blended soups. The light oil easily macerates with the half and half without cracking (separating into separate ingredients), allowing the mirepoix (onions, celery, and carrots along with garlic in this case) to slowly impart their subtle nuances of flavor necessary to complement such a delicate amalgamation. This is gastronomically, with no exception, the foremost important ingredient of the entire dish. As one bad

Corliss 3 apple will ruin the whole bushel, as will an inferior avocado the diners’ experience of this cuisine. Roy Ald’s, The Complete Soup Cookbook, discusses in his chapter “The Soup Flavoring Glossary (31-46),” many suggestions on which flavors will combine well with other ingredients, and that will complement each other without distraction. He delves into the history of soup and provides some basic stepping stones you should follow to create a successful dish. His glossary of flavoring techniques may be a little outdated, but still provide some simple, “do’s and don’ts”, applicable in today’s kitchens. One of the most important variables in all dishes, he acknowledges, is choosing the freshest ingredients. As with the avocado, the mirepoix must be of exceptional quality and freshness. I prefer to cultivate these members of the meal from my own carefully tended gardens. In doing so, one can control the environment in which they grow. Proper watering and feeding schedules must be managed or the crop of essential vegetables could be substandard or even lost all together. With home grown ingredients, one knows exactly what one is ingesting. This limits the possibility of unwanted pesticides and growth hormones that can cause loss of nutritional value, but most importantly, unwanted flavors. Unmolested crops have a far superior flavor to those that have been commercially grown with attention to yield and harvest rates rather than flavor and freshness. If you do not wish to accept the labor intensive task of growing fresh vegetables, many organic farmers markets have taken over the streets of almost all of suburban America.
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Most of these markets are comprised of small boutique farmers, which take pride in growing their crops without the use of pesticides or any non organic fertilizers. In doing so, they have made the commitment to you, the consumer, that their product is superior in flavor and nutritional value than that of any which may be purchased commercially. Half-and-Half, as defined by culinary expert, Daniel Alfaro, in his web article “How Fatty is Half and Half,” is a mixture of milk and butter fat in equal proportions. With a fat content of between 10.5 percent and 12 percent, half and half falls between light cream, which contains anywhere from 16 percent to 29 percent butterfat, and whole milk, which has about 3.5 percent butterfat. It is the right amount of liquid for volume, and cream for a silky smooth texture desired for the finished product. I have tried to use regular milk and then add heavy cream separately in equal amounts, but it seems that something occurs to the flavors and how they blend into the recipe during the commercial pasteurization processes used to ready the products for resale. Whole or heavy cream has propensity of turning globular or hard when set to flame. This will cause the recreational gastrologist endless bouts of hair pulling and four letter expletive sessions trying to repair the irreversible damage. Another predicament that whole cream can pose is scalding. Scalding is a symptom of excessive heat and a lack of brisk whisking of the liquid ingredients. The cream will stick to the sides and bottom of your chosen cauldron allowing the heat to burn the fat in the cream. Once this has happened, all is lost, and a quick journey through the
Corliss 5 garbage disposal is eminent. One may employ the two pot double boiler technique, which will allow for higher cooking temperatures without direct contact with the heat source. This is a terribly troublesome way to make a simple soup that is supposed to be a one pot meal. Do not try to over think the process. Good things take time. Use low heat when adding the liquid and all will be fine. All of the ingredients need a little coaxing when trying to abstract the full flavor potential that is locked inside. A simple pinch of salt and pepper is the key for this step. Proper salt is of utmost significance. Pink Himalayan salt is perfectly adept for cooking in liquids. Amanda Ennett, describes in her blog, "10 Amazing Benefits of Pink (Himalayan) Salt," Fitlifetv, that millions of years ago, crystallized sea salt beds, now deep within the Himalayans, were covered by lava. Aside from being kept it in a pristine environment that has been surrounded by snow and ice year round, the lava is thought to have protected the salt from modern-day pollution leading to the belief that Himalayan Pink salt is the purest salt to be found on earth. It is now hand-mined from the mountains and brought to the culinary market. Commercial refined salt is not only stripped of all its minerals, besides sodium and chloride, but is also chemically cleaned, bleached and heated at unnecessary high temperatures. In addition, it is treated with anti-caking agents, which prevent salt from mixing with water in the salt container. These agents also prevent dissolving within our system leading to build up and then deposit in organs and tissue, causing severe health problems. The added iron oxides and other trace elements that bestow the pinkish
Corliss 6 color to the salt will lend a rosy hue to your dish. These salts have a full, yet refined flavor to please even the most discerning of palettes. The only other spice necessary to complement this dish is pepper. Not plain pepper from a can or jar, but the kind of flavor that can only be obtained by grinding the whole peppercorns. Fresh cracked peppercorns, (really berries), have a much brighter flavor that leans towards acidic or biting when tasted in the back of the mouth As described in "Black Pepper (plant)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the berries are picked when they begin to turn red. The collected berries are immersed in boiling water for about 10 minutes, which causes them to turn dark brown or black in an hour. Then they are spread out to dry in the sun for three or four days. The whole peppercorns, when ground, yield black pepper. White pepper is obtained by removing the outer part of the pericarp. The outer coating is softened either by keeping the berries in moist heaps for 2 or 3 days or by keeping them in sacks submerged in running water for 7 to 15 days, depending on the region. The softened outer coating is then removed by washing and rubbing or by trampling, and the berries are spread in the sun to dry. Whole white pepper can also be prepared by grinding off the outer coating mechanically. The flavor is less pungent than that of black pepper. White pepper is a favorite of chefs around the world. It only adds the pepper flavor without dirtying the appearance of the dish. When pepper is used as an ingredient rather than a garnish, white is the best option. Black pepper will look as if dirt (possibly from ill prepared vegetables) has been added during the cooking stages. Most chefs will only
Corliss 7 use black pepper when added after the cooking process has been completed. It has a bolder taste that is needed when not cooked; cooking pepper allows the release of natural oils stored in the corns to permeate the dish. The white variety is milder and more refined so as not to offend one’s taste buds. This creation called “Cream of Avocado” soup can only be described as a journey. This is a journey in: 1) Passion; we must have passion for the individual components that constitute the medley; 2) Patience; we must show patience in the careful preparation required, as if you were a gastronomical surgeon; 3) Sharing; ; you should share this experience with other, allowing them the pleasures that come from a such a divine culinary gift of table fare; 4) Virtue; we must have the virtue to resist temptation; the temptation of allowing ourselves to cut the odd corner or two, or to settle for lesser quality subcomponents, in turn jeopardizing the whole. Do not lessen the journey; it is the journey, not the destination, which should be relished. As Californian’s, we have the luxury of a year round crop of avocados. With the right climates, soils, and abundant land sources available, California is able to cultivate all of the different varieties, from the popular, Hass; the most popular cultivar in the United States, which is a Mexican-Guatemalan hybrid, to the little known cultivars, such as the Nimlioh; a Guatemalan variety, seen mostly at farmers markets and specialty stores. The avocado has placed itself firmly rooted into California’s agricultural community. Avocados provide, thiamin, riboflavin,
Corliss 8 and vitamin A, and in some varieties the flesh contains as much as 25 percent unsaturated oil, according to "Avocado (fruit)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Knowing your varieties of avocados, and which ones are best when eaten raw, and which ones can stand up to the rigors of cooking, will help you make the important decision of which one to choose. Truly a Superfruit, the avocado is here to stay. So whether you prefer guacamole or cream of avocado soup, there is an avocado for you.

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Works Cited
Ald, Roy. “The Soup Flavoring Glossary.” The Complete Soup Cookbook. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1969. 31-46. Print.
Alfaro, Danilo. "How Fatty Is Half-and-Half?" About. About.com, 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
Bland, Alastair. “Know Your Avocado Varieties And When They’re In Season.” Food Republic. N.p., 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
"Avocado (fruit)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 July 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
"Black Pepper (plant)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
Ennett, Amanda. "10 Amazing Benefits of Pink (Himalayan) Salt." Fitlifetv. Fitlifetv, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.