Avocado cream is an avocado-based sauce that is most often used in Mexican cooking. Though it is usually a savory sauce used on dishes like carnitas and fish tacos, it can also be a sweet component used in desserts. It is generally bright green, and can be pourable and runny or may have a texture similar to sour cream. Avocado cream can be a simple sauce of avocado and dairy cream, or it can include other herbs and vegetables to enhance the flavor.
Savory avocado cream usually contains avocado and a creamy component like sour cream or crema. A dairy ingredient common in Mexican cooking, crema is similar to sour cream, but with a thinner consistency. It is added to both sweet and savory sauces to add a creamy texture and flavor to food.
This sauce is a common condiment at Mexican restaurants and in taco shops, particularly those located in Southern California in the United States. Sweet avocado cream sauce is sometimes served frozen into a dessert similar to ice cream. Avocado ice creams are often flavored with other vegetables that complement the creamy avocado. Sweet avocado and chile ice cream is popular on Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated on 5 May in Mexico and the United States.
The avocado is a fruit that grows on a tree. It usually has a thick green, brown, or black skin surrounding a tender and creamy flesh. The fruit has a large inedible seed in the center. Though most commercial avocados are about the size of a tennis ball, they can be as small as marbles or as large as bowling balls.
Avocado cream is a form of guacamole, a family of sauces made from the flesh of the avocado fruit. Usually, a familiar guacamole is much thicker than avocado cream, and may be mixed with herbs and tomatoes rather than diary. Some guacamole recipes also call for sour cream.
Many avocado cream first-timers can find the seed inside the avocado a perplexing obstacle to cooking with the fruit. An easy trick for removing the pit inside the avocado is to cut the avocado in half, then carefully embed the sharp end of a knife in the seed. Hold the fruit in one hand and the knife in the other and gently twist the knife to turn and dislodge the seed from the fleshy fruit. The flesh can then be scooped out with a spoon for guacamole or sliced in the skin for salads.