I’ve never had avocado

[BriocheBuns]

Around Christmas time there was a thread about what Christmas food people couldn’t get enough of and I remember stollen was very popular. So off I went to my local supermarket and picked up a bag of mini stollen bites... didn’t really like them but glad I tried them.

Now more to the point, a lot of people bang on about avocado on toast. I’ve never tasted avocado so before I go out and buy one only to dislike it I was wondering if anyone would be able to describe what it tastes like x

@Blessex

I mash my avocado with extra Virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar. That’s how my mum used to do it and now my DD does it too. Sometimes a grind of black pepper too.

Always with pepper.

Not tried it with white wine vinegar, always balsamic! Will test this out this week - thank you.

Also with stollen sadly to get the decent stuff you need to look outside supermarkets, so don't discount it until you have tasted the real thing from Germany ideally!

Totally agree! Supermarket stollen bites in Uk are dry, lack richness and spice and are just disappointing,REAL Stollen is rich, deeply complex flavours and Moreish

Definitely nothing like almond fingers!

ahhhh so there are different flavoured stollen.. no there is real stollen and the adulterated abomination the Uk supermarkets try and sell unwitting consumers which shouldn't even be called stollen!

Avocado - a fresh salad leaf (what pps are calling "grassy") taste, soft and creamy in texture somewhere between cream cheese and butter, best on wholemeal toast with a little salt mashed in.

I think quite a few here are having their avocados before they're ripe! Definitely shouldn't be same texture as an under ripe banana!

You've never had gherkins in a burger or sandwich? Not even branston and cheese sandwich?! You haven't lived!

You could kill 2 birds with one stone and have pickled mussels - I'm veggie over 30 years I still recall how yummy pickled mussels are! Fish is main thing I miss, if ever I'm tempted back to the dark side it won't be a bacon butty that does it it'll be a gorgeous prawn cocktail!

@MagentaDoesNotExist ohh I'm so trying that!

@BaronessBomburst ooh that was dangerous posting your location! I could be seriously tempted to "order" from you;

Stroopwaffle
Stollen
Lebkuchen
Decent potato salad (in fact make that potatoes in the 1001 wonderful ways they do them there)
Mushroom sauce
Gluhwein
Sauerkraut
White asparagus
Many many cheeses
Pickles galore (garlic, gherkins. Peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower - they pickle everything it's great!)
Proper gut glueing chocolate cake
Spätzle
Garlic mayo
Spiced ketchup like no other
BBQ sauce
Strudels
Berliners
Spaghettieis
Schoarma
Hot chocolate made with cream (and I mean made with cream not topped with aerated crap)...

Tummy rumbling here

Lucky you op, I wish I'd never had avocado they're fucking awful slimy,
oily things.

@Graphista

Also with stollen sadly to get the decent stuff you need to look outside supermarkets, so don't discount it until you have tasted the real thing from Germany ideally!

Totally agree! Supermarket stollen bites in Uk are dry, lack richness and spice and are just disappointing,REAL Stollen is rich, deeply complex flavours and Moreish

Definitely nothing like almond fingers!

ahhhh so there are different flavoured stollen.. no there is real stollen and the adulterated abomination the Uk supermarkets try and sell unwitting consumers which shouldn't even be called stollen!

Avocado - a fresh salad leaf (what pps are calling "grassy") taste, soft and creamy in texture somewhere between cream cheese and butter, best on wholemeal toast with a little salt mashed in.

I think quite a few here are having their avocados before they're ripe! Definitely shouldn't be same texture as an under ripe banana!

You've never had gherkins in a burger or sandwich? Not even branston and cheese sandwich?! You haven't lived!

You could kill 2 birds with one stone and have pickled mussels - I'm veggie over 30 years I still recall how yummy pickled mussels are! Fish is main thing I miss, if ever I'm tempted back to the dark side it won't be a bacon butty that does it it'll be a gorgeous prawn cocktail!

@MagentaDoesNotExist ohh I'm so trying that!

@BaronessBomburst ooh that was dangerous posting your location! I could be seriously tempted to "order" from you;

Stroopwaffle
Stollen
Lebkuchen
Decent potato salad (in fact make that potatoes in the 1001 wonderful ways they do them there)
Mushroom sauce
Gluhwein
Sauerkraut
White asparagus
Many many cheeses
Pickles galore (garlic, gherkins. Peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower - they pickle everything it's great!)
Proper gut glueing chocolate cake
Spätzle
Garlic mayo
Spiced ketchup like no other
BBQ sauce
Strudels
Berliners
Spaghettieis
Schoarma
Hot chocolate made with cream (and I mean made with cream not topped with aerated crap)...

Tummy rumbling here

Aaargh they need to open the borders. I need a trip to Germany having read your list! I'd been trying to block off these thoughts.

I don't think it tastes earthy or grassy at all. It's rather fatty so it spreads well and I particularly like it on toast with a runny yolk poached egg on top plus salt & pepper.

Nyom!!

I really like stollen though so maybe we see things a tad differently!

I was mid 30s before I tried an avocado. I’m not keen on the taste, but I did like to put them in smoothies. You can’t taste it then but it makes it very creamy. I stopped buying them when I read they were contributing to deforestation.

@BriocheBuns does your dp?

I’ve never tried one either. I like stollen though.

Some lovely sounding halloumi recipes here. I'll be trying them.
We like it cut into fingers and dry fried then served with soft boiled eggs as 'soldiers'

I keep meaning to order avocado and try it on toast. I've had it sliced in salad, and ds makes guacamole sometimes. Stupid question, do you grill it once its on the toast? Or just spread it on and eat it?

What are people talking about when they say "pickles?" Do you mean picked gherkins? Eggs? Onions? Or Branston stuff?

@WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo

Some lovely sounding halloumi recipes here. I'll be trying them. We like it cut into fingers and dry fried then served with soft boiled eggs as 'soldiers'

I keep meaning to order avocado and try it on toast. I've had it sliced in salad, and ds makes guacamole sometimes. Stupid question, do you grill it once its on the toast? Or just spread it on and eat it?

What are people talking about when they say "pickles?" Do you mean picked gherkins? Eggs? Onions? Or Branston stuff?

No, just toast then add your mashed avocado, with whatever you fancy already mixed into the avocado (crispy bacon pieces, tomatoes, dressing, whatever. Lots of salt and pepper!). The creaminess of that with the crispy toast is perfect.

By pickles I mean pickled cucumber or gherkins (either from a jar or done at home - very simple - finely sliced cucumber with some white wine or cider vinegar, plus some caster sugar and salt, although you can add some coriander or caraway seeds or peppercorns or dill or all of the above if you wish!). Or pickled onions from a jar. Or pickled red onions (slicing them then adding lime juice and balsamic and leaving in the fridge a few hours). Or capers. Or pickled jalapeños straight from the jar! Any kind of stuff covered in vinegar really. Pickled beetroot also! One of my favourite tapas is anchovies marinated in vinaigrette. All picked things are generally quite wonderful IMO.

Thanks @Magenta. I wasn't sure because I know Americans call gherkins pickles, but here pickles would refer to anything pickles as per you list. I'm not a fan of pickled eggs but most other things I've tried I love. Especially the hot spicy onions!

I love toast with avocado, red onion and feta and some pepper
Gherkins I eat all the time in sandwiches!!
I had a colleague who was always asking what does this taste like or that, and stuff she hadn't tried like blueberries. Ended up sharing stuff with her and said look, if you don't like it you're an adult, spit it out!
That was something my dad always said - you'll never know unless you try it and nobody's forcing you to eat it again

Me too!

I am not a fan of eggs in any form, unless they are part of a cake etc so unidentifiable! I certainly wouldn't eat a pickled egg. 😬🤢 But pickled vegetables on food, on a pizza, in burgers or with a schnitzel or with BBQed meat or with cheese and crackers even, and some ham, delicious! Or just with a glass or wine!

@QueenPawPaws

I love toast with avocado, red onion and feta and some pepper Gherkins I eat all the time in sandwiches!! I had a colleague who was always asking what does this taste like or that, and stuff she hadn't tried like blueberries. Ended up sharing stuff with her and said look, if you don't like it you're an adult, spit it out! That was something my dad always said - you'll never know unless you try it and nobody's forcing you to eat it again

Exactly this. Try everything (within reason, not stuff that grosses people out obviously, that's hust pointless). And if someone thinks something is horrid then like you said, they don't have to eat it again! But it's always worth a go to try things.

For lovers of mussels... I always believed that there was no way to cook them that could be better than moules marinière until I went to Bruges and had mussels cooked in beer. OMFG. And I am a wine drinker, I do not even like beer!

Would be interested to hear what things surprised other posters that they did not think they would like?

Sorry for diverging from your post @QueenPawPaws - feel free to kick me off and tell me to go and get my own if you would rather keep this focused on your original post!

Oh mussels! I've been ruined since I went to Dublin and had incredibly fresh ones in garlic butter. We were straight off the plane and ate two bowls each with a pint of ice cold cider

I never really liked tomatoes until I put salt on them and can't believe nobody told me to try it. Another thing to do is wander down the world food aisle and buy one thing to try that looks interesting. Sometimes I get snacks or chocolate bars or spices

@knockeduplockeddown

Imagine a savoury, slightly unripe banana, if you can 😂 Similar texture, quite a mild flavour, tastes slightly oily/buttery, a small bit nutty, and quite... I wanna say grassy? But in a good way.

I’ve never eaten a banana to use as a comparison! @BriocheBuns - I’ve never had an avocado either.

@QueenPawPaws

Oh mussels! I've been ruined since I went to Dublin and had incredibly fresh ones in garlic butter. We were straight off the plane and ate two bowls each with a pint of ice cold cider

I never really liked tomatoes until I put salt on them and can't believe nobody told me to try it. Another thing to do is wander down the world food aisle and buy one thing to try that looks interesting. Sometimes I get snacks or chocolate bars or spices

That sounds good! I've wanted to go to Dublin for so long and this has reinforced it. How do they cook them; just melt garlic butter then chuck the mussels in and put the lid on?

With tomatoes, I once on my travels with work to rubbish UK business parks met a tomato salesman. 🤣 He spent a long time explaining to me why tomatoes should never be kept in a fridge (he was right of course but his explanation was unneccessarily long and boring). Yet most of the tomatoes we can buy in the UK have been picked when almost green and transported in that way, in refreigerated vehicles so it's too late to stop the damage to them that it does. Buying them on the vine helps a bit, but when you eat tomatoes that have been picked fresh from being grown in Mediterranean areas, the flavour is something else isn't it? The sunshine, that's what does it. Here in the UK, even if grown in the garden they are bland but there... with bit if salt and pepper and basil and it is heaven!

Such a good idea to try a new random food you have never had before each week, I will add this to my weekly shopping list.

Creamy and fresh, absolutely delicious as far as I'm concerned

[quote AldiAisleofCrap]@BriocheBuns does your dp?[/quote]

@MagentaIsNotAColour I'm housebound almost 5 years, limited to supermarket offerings and before lockdown lacklustre Local takeaways (I'm in the arse end of nowhere can't even get decent Chinese!)

Hoping to turn things around and food is definitely a factor in motivating me!

What are people talking about when they say "pickles?" Do you mean picked gherkins? Eggs? Onions? Or Branston stuff?

In my case...allllllll the pickles. Everything from Branston to sauerkraut to pickled garlic even pickled fruit!

Re avocado - just spread on toast lavishly similar to as you would with cream cheese

Any kind of stuff covered in vinegar really

Yep! A lass after my own heart there

@QueenPawPaws my mum was a good plain cook but dad was army and both parents quite adventurous in terms of trying food when we ate outside of home, I think the only reason mum didn't cook more adventurously was lack of confidence. We didn't eat out loads except when living overseas and dads wage went further, both big fans of street food too. They'd encourage us to try things one proper mouthful at least and then if we didn't like it we knew and if we did great one more thing we liked to eat.
.

Gah posted too soon...

So when we ate out as a family they'd try and organise it that we each ordered a different menu/dish to the others and then we'd share it and try each other's things.

I'm veggie now for a variety of reasons but I'm not squeamish about food and have tried many different meats, offal, fish and seafood and of course loads of veggies there are less than a handful of veggies I don't like (and I persevered trying them cooked in lots of different ways) and the ones I haven't tried are generally ones that are rarely available in Europe. I like cooking and have rediscovered that this year to some extent (health issues led to me having a very poor diet for a while there)

Such a droolsome thread! Mussels in garlic butter with fondant potatoes...yum!

I never really liked tomatoes until I put salt on them and can't believe nobody told me to try it.

Try salted tomatoes on toast! Good wholegrain bread thickly sliced and toasted both sides, salted butter then thick slices of tomato with flakes of sea salt - thank me later

My mums picnics always included a wee Tupperware salt shaker with a pronged lid (the prongs went into the holes the salt came out of) that was for the halved tomatoes and boiled eggs to be salted

Another thing to do is wander down the world food aisle and buy one thing to try that looks interesting

Love this idea I may apply it to my online shop

Ok I'm hitting a slight problem there so far all I'm finding that I haven't already tried are rice sticks and I think I might have tried them without knowing at a friends party years ago, must ask her. Cue me spending a fortune on lychee juice and sushi ingredients!

Ooh Asian almond cookies now there's an idea

its vile
odd taste, foul texture

I’d suggest making avocado on toast with feta rather than just eating an avocado - the saltiness of the feta is delicious with the creamy flavour of the avocado. I like avocado with other foods - as part of a salad to offset the crunchy veggies, in a sandwich, spread on toast, in guacamole etc - but wouldn’t just eat it alone usually. The flavour is quite subtle. I would try everything on your list if I were you but as part of a meal, not by themselves - eg make a tuna mayonnaise sandwich or simple pasta sauce with tuna, garlic and tomatoes; eat pickles on a burger or sandwich etc, so that you get to experience them in the setting they work best rather than by themselves.

I’ve eaten avocados all of my life from 1970s onwards.
I have never ever eaten in on toast and not sure I ever will. Toast needs butter - lots of it and then maybe marmite or something sweet or if cheese then butter is in a different form really.

Taste of avocado depends on ripeness - unripe to ripe I taste -
Unripe unsweet green Melon
The bit of an unripe banana at the very end
An unsweet pear
Old grass
New sweet grass (this is perfect for me - halved with olive oil poured in and salt and pepper and spoon)
Tasteless but texture is lovely fatty - this is perfect to make guacamole with lots of lime and chilli etc.