About a month ago, I bitched about out-of-season avocados, specifically the dark green monuments of Giza on display at my local Safeway, on sale at a seemingly unbeatable price of a buck per. For whatever reason – I, of course, speculate in that earlier post, but can’t say definitively – they were appalling: Watery, mealy, flavorless, an ultimately disgusting pale green mush and affront to guacamole everywhere. Well, today (in point of historical fact, two nights ago) I got to eat my words: Said avocados are now $1.25, but – and this is the important thing – they actually taste pretty damn good. No, not the dense, creamy confection of the mid-summer California version, but still and all, a far cry better than most of my local taquerias have been serving up, and a worthy bridge-loan from last season to next for those of us, myself included, in the throes of mid-winter guacamole withdrawal.
Because, even as I kvetch unrelenting about stuff I don’t like, I try to be fair – harsh, perhaps, but fair, regardless – here is my official Tip of the Hat to the produce buyers over at Safeway: We weren’t even on speaking terms when I wrote that other column, but you just saved my wife’s burrito from its tragically banal meatless destiny, and got my freshly fried tortilla chips their sorely needed fix.
That’s a great link, @MaryR – thanks for posting. I would quibble with the author’s tolerance of Florida avocados and watery varietals generally, but I never knew about the size/quality/season relationship, which is quite useful; his timeline also rationalized my experience at our local Safeway with Mexican Hass avos (disastrous in late Fall, quite good in mid Winter)
Even though it’s written for L.A. readers, see David Karp’s definitive story about avocados in the L.A. Times, here:
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-marketwatch-20101224,0,4339230.story
You should try the Chiquita avocados that you can put in the refrigerator. They last about a month, and are always ripe.
@Adel – I can’t deal w/ the quantity of avos at Costco, as I’ve never figured out an application that stores (except maybe ice cream, but that’s a lot of avo ice cream).
@Jaselle – I talk in some detail about seasonality of avo crop in the parent post (http://proximal.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10706/safeway-avocado-alert/), and why some things should only ever be eaten in-season (specifically, tomatoes – see http://proximal.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10214/sex-lies-and-tomatoes/).
Try Costco – surprisingly great avocados.
Are avocados even in season this time of year? You tout shopping locally and buying the best from people who farm them. Perhaps buying this fruit this time of year is why they were unpleasant to the eye and palate.
Thanks for the tip, @David! Will test it out next week at the one in Windsor…
For consistently great avocados, go to Raley’s. My wife and I have purchased avocados from nearly every vendor in Sonoma County and these are hands-down the best. Believe me, my wife is extremely picky, having grown up with an avocado tree in her grandmother’s backyard in Southern California and knowing EXACTLY what a perfectly ripe avocado should taste like!