Tropical guacamole salsa is another easy way to serve healthy avocado

I recently posted a recipe for avocado and lime dip and touted all the great reasons for including avocados in our diet. Here’s another tasty avocado idea. Serve this salsa with traditional tortilla chips. It’s also nice as a side for chicken or pork. Or try it on toast in the morning with your coffee. Avocado – any time, anywhere. It makes you smile. What would a duck say who eats avocado? Guac!

Tropical guacamole salsa
Makes 2 cups

2 avocados, very ripe but not bruised
juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
handful coriander leaves finely chopped (about 10 grams)
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 50 grams)
one small soft ripe yellow mango, peeled and chopped (about 100 grams)
1 cup ripe papaya, peeled and chopped, about 100 grams
half a small jalapeno, deseeded and finely chopped (about 1 teaspoon, optional*)
tortilla chips, to serve

Cut the avocados in quarters. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Be sure to get the greenest bits next to the skin, as this is where many of the nutrients reside. Roughly chop up the fruit and add it to a medium-sized bowl.

Squeeze the juice from the lime and add it all to the bowl with the avocado.

Wash the coriander well and strip the leaves off the stems. Roughly chop a large handful and add it to the bowl.

Finely chop the onion and add to the bowl. If you want a little heat, add half a jalapeno or a very small red chili pepper to the mix. Be sure to discard the seeds and chop finely. You might want to taste a little piece before adding the works, to make sure it isn’t too hot. If it’s fiery, you can adjust the amount.

Peel and chop the mango and papaya into small chunks and add it all to the bowl.

Use a whisk to roughly mash everything together.

Season to taste with with salt and pepper.

If not serving straight away, sit one of the avocado stones in the dish of guacamole to help stop the salsa from going brown. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until needed. Here’s a bowl of tropical guacamole salsa ready to take to the party.

Salsa featuring avocado, mango, and papaya is a party food your guests will appreciate. So good for them, too!

Why eat avocados? They’re so good for us!

Avocados are simply loaded with good nutrition. They are a good source of omega-3 fats, a nutrient lacking in western diets. Omega-3 is needed to balance the over-consumption of omega-6 fats, which is much more readily available in western diets. Imbalance of omega-6 over omega-3 fats is considered the main cause of many of the serious chronic inflammatory diseases plaguing the population in the western world today – heart problems, stroke, diabetes, many types of cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Both of these fats are needed to ensure healthy body biochemistry, but must be present in a healthy ratio.

Avocados also provide a natural plant sterol called beta-sitosterol. Regularly consuming beta-sitosterol and other plant sterols may help maintain healthy cholesterol levels, which are so important for heart health.

Older folks might be concerned about worsening vison. Avocados protect against macular degeneration, a condition that can’t be corrected once it occurs. Phytochemicals, antioxidants, beneficial fats, and beta-carotene in avocados all work together to help ensure healthy eyesight well into our senior years.

Vitamin K content in avocados help prevent osteoporosis by increasing the absorption of calcium needed for bone strength and reducing excretion of calcium in the urine.

The folate in avocados is linked to brain health, making avocados one of our mood foods. Eat avocados – be happy! A simplification, but the biochemistry, although complex, suggests that folate can assist in lifting depression and protect against Alzheimer’s.

But one other good reason to eat avocados is that they taste good and fill you up.