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The Testicle Tree, stones and stoners

October 18, 2011 5 Comments Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

Avocado is a very large berry, creamy and nutritious. It’s also a colour, associated with bathroom suites of the 1970s. It comes from a tree and the Spanish name ‘aguacate’ is a bastardisation of the Aztec word for ‘testicles’; the pendulous fruit grows in pairs. 1970s mums everywhere would attempt to grow a tree from the bulb. Kitchen sink window sills customarily had an avocado pit wallowing half submerged in a glass of water in the vain hope that it would sprout leaves.
I loved avocado so much as a child I used to save up my pocket money to buy one just for me. They were considered expensive, we were only allowed a half as a dinner treat.
The most expensive starter in a restaurant was avocado with prawn cocktail. Second on the list of ‘hors d’oeuvres’ would be avocado vinaigrette where the pit was filled with an non-amalgamated dressing of oil, red wine vinegar and salt.
In Peru, where the avocado is known as ‘palta’, I survived for three months on ‘palta rellena’, ceviche and baked potatoes, the latter kept warm in the hammock sway of skirts of seated street sellers and offered up, cradled in hands. I avoided the other speciality, giant guinea pig, served roasted and splayed and given a blanket of peanut sauce.
Avocado is manna for vegans, it can be used as a replacement for butter. I like nothing better than buttery toast however, thickly smudged with briskly forked avocado. Another favourite: a demi avocado with Ponzu sauce and Wasabi puddled shinily in nature’s own inkwell.
On the 27th of October, to celebrate avocado week, I’m hosting an avocado themed supper for the Chilean Haas avocado. The Haas or Hass avocado is distinguished by a black knobbly flesh rather than the easy peel green skin of the main rival, the Fuerte. The catering industry often prefer the smooth skinned Fuerte for aesthetic reasons, it is larger and they can cut it into a fan shape easily. But the Hass has a denser more flavoursome interior that lasts longer and ripens better. To South American explorers it was known as the alligator fruit.
We regard it mostly as a salad ingredient but in Brazil, Indonesia and parts of Asia, it is combined with sugar or chocolate syrup to make a dessert or smoothie. The first time I had this in Brazil I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve also read that you can add the blended avocado pit to a smoothie; a certain holistic sect of raw foodists swear by it. They believe in eating every part of a plant, for instance with lemon, they also eat the pips and the skin,  a kind of extreme veggie version of the nose to tail eating of meat. Victoria Boutenko advises that half a pit in a green smoothie lowers cholesterol and offers raw fibre in the diet, while some experts claim the avocado stone is toxic.
I gathered an enormous amount of avocado pits or stones during the testing of recipes for this dinner. I tried to sprout them but only a couple of have grown roots.
Author Connie Barlow believes that the avocado fruit dispersed and evolved during the Pleistocene era of large fauna, where animals such as the giant ground sloth would swallow the fruit whole and excrete the pit, enabling it to sprout. I rather like the idea that an avocado is the food of dinosaurs.

Here are two unusual recipes for avocado: crema de aguacate, a cold avocado soup, and chocolate cake with avocado butter icing. They were thoroughly tested on a couple of friends of mine, who could be described without exaggeration as stoners. They loved everything.

Crema de Aguacate
2 ripe avocados
500ml of full fat milk
Juice of 2 limes
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
A drizzle of Chilean avocado oil
Mix all the ingredients together, using a food processor if you have one, adjusting the lime and seasoning to your taste. Garnish with Chilean avocado oil, subtle and nutty.
Avocado chocolate Cake recipe from Joy The Baker

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Comments

  1. love poppy

    October 18, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    that cake looks fantastic..

    Love Poppy..

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    October 19, 2011 at 7:41 am

    Yum! Every time we went to a restaurant as a child, I would get the avocado shrimp.

    In Sri Lanka last year I drank avocado milkshakes, they were incredibly refreshing and I make them for myself now. Half an avocado, cold milk, and sometimes a pinch of cardamom.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    October 19, 2011 at 8:39 am

    Been looking forward to reading this since your tweet the other day… the avocado icing looks amazing – definitely one I want to try!

    Reply
  4. theundergroundrestaurant

    October 19, 2011 at 9:57 am

    What can I say? Avocado is sort of nice in a vegetably kind of way.

    Reply
  5. Evie

    October 21, 2011 at 10:52 am

    Can anyone tell me what happened to the baby avocados available back in the 90s? They were the size of thumbs with undeveloped pits.

    Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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Midsummer supperclub 17th June book tickets here h Midsummer supperclub 17th June book tickets here https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsummer-supper-club-tickets-june-17th at London’s pioneering supper club. Tickets £50 BYO. Scandinavian inspired summery food. #supperclub #msmarmitelover #midsummer #northwestlondon #londonevents #popups
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Attended an incredible talk with @frenchpete_1 on Attended an incredible talk with @frenchpete_1 on war photography in the Ukraine . Go to the exhibition @thebppa @thebargehouse in SE1 last few days 
Had to stop filming cos I was told off. The photographers would be less forthcoming if they were filmed I was told. 
Anyway @frenchpete_1 should be followed by a camera crew cos he’s a star.
For yesterdays lunch I made a blue cheese puff pas For yesterdays lunch I made a blue cheese puff pastry quiche and a little one with less blue cheese & no salt for my 7 month old granddaughter. She absolutely loved it. I’m enjoying seeing her experience and explore new foods with baby led weaning. Avocado, strawberries, kiwi & buttered crumpets are a hit. Pasta less so. Who is this child? Are we even related? #babyledweaning #quiche #homemadepuffpastry
Nice to be featured as The Great Read in The natio Nice to be featured as The Great Read in The national newspaper again. These are the stories I love to do: I go off on an adventure, take my time, interview people (especially women), photograph them in their environment and create recipes on site. This story cost me a lot more than I made as I had an accident and lost my excess. My own damn fault though! Loved loved loved having a campervan. Thanks for lending me it @camperdays.international and sorry about the hole in the side.  https://www.thenational.scot/news/23505593.foraging-seaweed-western-isles/
My terrace on a sunny May morning. The builders @l My terrace on a sunny May morning. The builders @lk.general.building left yesterday. They’ve been working since January. I had the awning installed, the encaustic Minton tiles removed and put back with green grout. The terrace was causing damp so this had to be done. My calamondin plant is looking lovely. The benches which I repaired with hard wood & I repainted using a mix of 2 colours. The marble table I bought in Suffolk at a car boot. Everything is still dusty & I’m waiting for the window cleaner to arrive.
Last but very heartfelt thankyou to @cideriswine f Last but very heartfelt thankyou to @cideriswine for their contribution of these beautiful dry ciders for the coronation street lunch. Gorgeously illustrated labels. #stcuthbertsrd #kilburn #london #cider #artisanaldrinks
When it comes to vodka I much prefer potato vodka. When it comes to vodka I much prefer potato vodka. It’s smoother. Artisanal distillery @devoncovevodka contributed some bottles to my coronation lunch which gave everyone a feeling of being at a classy party. Thanks so much. And also @rawfoodanddrink for arranging. If you want to read my blog post about how and why I organised this event, copy and paste this link: https://t.co/GWNNW2XKba #coronationstreetparty #biglunch #community #kilburn #london #forthepeoplebythepeople
I’ve been a fan of @luscombedrinks for years now I’ve been a fan of @luscombedrinks for years now. They sent a selection: elderflower bubbly, st. Clements orange 🍊 Sicilian lemonade, @belvoirfarm_uk lemonade, which were all delicious and just the tickets for the fortuitous mini-heatwave that occurred on the Sunday coronation lunch. #thankyou #community #coronation #streetparty #biglunch
Our street party. Double page spread in The Sun! T Our street party. Double page spread in The Sun! Tiny bit in the guardian. Decent pic in the Mail and The Star credit @asproider #coronationlunch #kilburn #stcuthbertsrd #kingscroftrd #fordwychrd #templarhouse
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I had a piece in @thetimes on Sunday about being a I had a piece in @thetimes on Sunday about being a vegetarian rather than a vegan. How I still need butter. And how restaurants & plane meals are now vegan rather than vegetarian. But, there are still more the double amount of vegetarians as vegans in the UK. I’ve written a vegan cookbook V is for vegan (link in bio) and am a big fan of vegan foods. I’ve not eaten meat for over 40 years. This is a sustainable diet, in terms of longevity. Vegans that I knew from the early noughties have reverted to meat eating. #newpuritanism? #vegetarian #vegan #foodwriter
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I went to Wembley in north west london to talk to I went to Wembley in north west london to talk to Sophie of @tobia.teff she uses the iron-rich, gluten free teff grain from her homeland Ethiopia. She showed me how to make injera, the Ethiopian flatbread which is fermented. She also talked about the coffee ceremony, 3 cups, which they pair with toasted barley or, currently, popcorn! I’d love to visit Ethiopia and find out more about their ancient food culture, history, 3.5k year old monarchy and religions.
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