Super Bowl Sunday has arrived. Along with this day is a license to snack and drink through all quarters and of course, half time. In my view, there is nothing more American than this day of drinking, sporting and eating. And I don't necessarily mean this in a good way, which is not to say that I don't enjoy my fair share of nachos, beer and wings from time to time.
The Snack Food Association states that Americans will consume around 30.4 million pounds of snacks today. Domino's Pizza is expected to delivery 300,000 pizza per quarter. This over and above pizza sales by 42 per cent of a typical Sunday. Roughly 3.5 per cent of annual beer sales are generated around Super Bowl Sunday according to the Beer Institute.
One of the most popular eats of the day will be nacho platters, chips and guacamole. Here on the West Coast the avocado reaches into nearly 90 per cent of homes. The Hass Avocado Board estimates that football viewers across the U.S. will eat enough avocados to cover the field at Jacksonville's ALLTEL Stadium with 10.5 feet of guacamole--that's 43.8 million avocados.
As the governing board will tell you, avocados are available year-round. Two-thirds of all the avocados sold in the United States are bought within the three weeks surrounding Super Bowl. So that means with the peak season for Mexican or Chilean avocados which starts in October and whiles through to June, folks could be eating mediocre avocados. The California avocado season begins in January and will build into March. But I'm loyal to California grown--the ones that travel thousands of miles are just too watery tasting. And I'll eat them beyond Super Bowl.
If you are looking for innovation try AvoClassic Guacamole. According to the folks at AvoClassic, who produce the dip for supermarkets and food service operations, "It’s fresherized so it stays pure and delicious, with no artificial ingredients, no chemicals, no additives. Just avocadoes, onions and spices." It's also apparently the number one guacamole in the country.
I found the product in the Whole Foods refrigerated section but have also seen it at Safeway. My cost was $4.79 for a box containing two 8-oz. pouches of guacamole. So what is the 'fresherized' process? A Food Engineering magazine article on the company elaborates, "high pressure preserves the product without causing the acidification that occurs with thermal processing. Off-tastes are not masked as they are in traditional processes, so Avomex must use higher quality avocados."
The box contains the equivalent of five Hass avocados, white vinegar, jalapeno peppers, dehydrated onion, slat and granulated garlic. Interestingly, it doesn't turn brown when exposed to air. It can also be frozen. The taste was surprisingly great. It's mild tasting but with a little doctoring I was able to turn up the picante factor. I'll still take a fresh avocado any day but when the California season hits a lull it's a great option due to its quality, convenience and taste.
GO PATRIOTS!!!
First Photo: Hass Avocado Board
I have a friend who chops a real avocado up and adds it to one of these packs. It's amazingly good. I was fooled. Being someone who kind of likes to make things from scratch I wasn't easy with the idea of it but I can't eny the end product was quite delicous!
Posted by: Sam | February 06, 2005 at 04:58 PM