Hittin’ the sweet spot

Far Eastern dishes show there’s a sweeter side to the humble avocado.

If you grew up in the West, it’s possible the closest your avocado ever got to being sweet was the time it got plonked in your fruit bowl. Avocado, you believed, was for guacamole. Salt, pepper and lime were its only friends. What it most certainly wasn’t was dessert.

Then came the noughties health trend that saw them used as a dairy-free butter substitute in brownies and cakes. Such offerings you viewed suspiciously. Avocado and sweet? It didn’t seem right. So you declined their zany new use in life and went back to maneuvering a guacamole-laden corn chip into your mouth. Avocados weren’t bad for a fruit. Not bad at all.

Avocados are no longer just for savoury treats. There’s a sweeter side to the humble avocado.

But unbeknownst to you, someone else was facing the complete opposite dilemma. Avocado and savoury? It didn’t seem right. This person remembers eating them with a spoon in Malaysia – the pip removed and the little indent left filled with honey or condensed milk. Indeed this strangely-sweet concoction is a popular Indonesian treat. Avocados are also utterly divine in smoothies with some chocolate syrup. All in all, a pretty tasty berry.

The literal translation of ‘avocado’ in Chinese is ‘crocodile pear’. Rather befitting when you look at it, non? Who would’ve thought such a leathery-skinned fruit (yes, you now know it’s a fruit) could cause so much culture shock? But that’s the great thing about food – it’s one of the best ways to experience other cultures.

Add a dollop of chocolate syrup to your avocado smoothies to make it utterly divine.

So, in the spirit of trying new things, why not try the kind of avocado smoothie that’s extremely popular in Southeast Asia? You just need a blender, avocados, ice and chocolate syrup.

Just make sure the avocados are nicely ripe to begin with and you’ll never look at one the same way again.