We´d been traveling in Brazil for a week or so when I was confronted with one of the food-related things about the country that most alarms me: sweet avocado juice. I´m not completely naive and do realize that this is not that uncommon, at least in other places far from where I live. In fact, a work colleague, H, tells me that something similar is fairly popular in the Phillipines. Be that as it may, this drink, on first hearing about it, made me anxious.

suco de abacate

To me, avocado is a fruit used primarily in Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes, which are invariably savory and never sweet. I´ve travelled to Brazil several times before and generally avoided this drink. This time however, there was no getting around it: Hegui´s sister, Tinha, with whom we were staying at the time, made it for me specifically, apparently on request (though I cannot recall making such a request at any time. Hmm.)

Tinha used an avocado that seemed tremendously large to me–perhaps the size of an American football. I´ve seen similar ones here in the Bay Area though with more diminutive statures. The recipe is really easy: just mix the avocado with milk and sugar to taste, then blend it.

Tinha served this in tall glasses. She had refrigerated the avocado and milk so it was cool and quite refreshing. The milkshake looks whitish with a slightly greenish tint. It tasted grassy and mild. Really muito gostoso. Who knew?

this is a giant sized avocado though it's hard to tell with this pic

Suco de Abacate

avocado
milk
sugar

Blend everything together and adjust various constituent ingredients to make it the thickness and level of sweetness that you like. Drink on a hot day. Yum!

roadside avocado tree bearing fruit in downtown Ubatuba, SP, Brazil