Award-Winning Guacamole

Blue Ribbon Hunter

Everyone loves a great guacamole, and lucky for us, it is pretty easy to make. But we wanted to know what it takes to make the best guacamole and there was no better place to travel than Carpinteria, California for their annual Avocado Festival. This festival is a weekend filled with everything and anything avocado from the World's largest vat of guacamole to their famous guacamole competition. A lot of contestants came out hoping to make their guac stand out amongst their competitors by having a unique or powerful ingredient such as chili peppers, bacon, cumin, or olives, but that only left the judges craving a solid, classic guacamole that showed off the delicious natural flavor of the avocado. In the end, the recipe that took home the blue ribbon was a simple and classic recipe that used perfect Hass avocados and it came from the same woman who won last year: Cherisse Kirkendall from Carpinteria.

Winning Guacamole Recipe

By Cherisse Kirkendall of Carpinteria, CA

7 Hass avocados (medium)

4 diced and seeded Roma tomatoes

1 cup fine diced red onion

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime

1 ½ tablespoons Lawry's garlic salt

Dash pepper

Mash avocados in a bowl to desired texture and add red onion and seasonings to taste. Slice tomatoes and remove seeds. Cut into medium size squares. Fold in tomatoes. A little chunky is always good. Serve chilled.

Cherisse's Tips

1. Keep it simple

2. Chunky is good

3. Avoid avocados with a "ripe" sticker - they are almost always overripe

4. Use a potato masher to mash avocados

5. Fold in the additional ingredients

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