By Jill Wendholt Silva / The Kansas City Star
Americans are having a love affair with avocados.
Our appetite for the creamy fruit has grown nearly every year for the last 17 years.
The United States is estimated to consume 2.7 billion pounds of avocados this year, which is more than five times as many sold in 2000, according to the Hass Avocado Board. Hass avocados make up more than 95 percent of all avocados consumed in the U.S.
We love to dip tortilla chips into guacamole, add slices of avocado to our sandwiches and even bake it into our chocolate cakes.
But surely you know by now that slathering good-fat guacamole on a slice of whole-grain toast is far more fashionable?
Credit Gwyneth Paltrow’s devotion to avocado toast, a recipe for which she featured in her cookbook “It’s All Good” (2013), for turning the buttery fruit on bread into an A-list celebrity with its own day.
Perhaps because we were distracted by the Twitter chitter-chatter of an Australian real estate mogul calling out $19 avocado toast as the reason millennials could not afford to buy houses. Economists quickly started breaking it down and found his assertion more than a bit exaggerated.
But cultural food trend barometers like Eater are getting a little cranky about the “bourgeois” avo toast craze, calling it “the devil on toast.”
Avocado toast was in the news again when Time reported that data from Square found Americans are now spending $900,000 per month on avocado toast — a jump from $17,000 per month in 2014.
Despite its overexposure, it’s hard to hate a tasty, good-for-you option that works just as well for breakfast, lunch or dinner as a snack, and takes no culinary skill to make.
(Avocados are one of the only fruits that contain heart-healthy unsaturated fat — good fat — and are naturally cholesterol free. They also helps the body absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as vitamins A, D, E and K.)
The only drawback? Square has found on average Americans are paying $6.78 per pop for avo toast in a restaurant. So making your own at home can keep more green in your wallet.
Probably not enough green for the down payment on a house, but maybe enough for an avolatte — yes, a latte served in a hallowed-out avocado skin.
And just to keep things interesting, The Kansas City Star’s avocado toast recipe includes variations worth exploring, like egg, bacon, tomato, salsa, radish, smoked salmon or strawberries.
Avocado toast
1 ripe avocado, halved, seeded and peeled
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 slices country-style wheat bread, toasted
Using the tines of a fork, mash avocado in a bowl. Add lemon juice, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Stir to blend well. Divide between the two pieces of toast.
Makes 2 servings. Serve as is or add a variation from below.
Avocado toast with egg: Poach, scramble or hard boil an egg. Place egg on top of avocado toast and serve.
Bacon avocado toast: Top with a crisp turkey bacon slice that has been halved and crisscrossed across toast.
Tomato basil avocado toast: Slice 4 cherry tomatoes and layer on avocado toast. Sprinkle with finely chopped basil.
Salsa avocado toast: Spread a tablespoon or 2 of salsa over toast.
Avocado toast with radishes: Thinly slice radishes and place on avocado toast. Add chopped chives.
Smoked salmon avocado toast: Top avocado toast with thin slices of smoked salmon and sprinkle with minced fresh dill.
Strawberry avocado toast: Slice 2 or 3 strawberries and place on top of avocado toast.
Nutrition per serving (no variations): 231 calories (60 percent from fat), 17 grams total fat (3 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 21 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams protein, 158 milligrams sodium, 4 grams dietary fiber.
— Recipes developed by professional home economists Kathryn Moore and Roxanne Wyss.
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