Guacamole

Guacamole is a Mexican dip and condiment made from ripe avocados mashed with lime juice, onion, fresh coriander, chilli and salt, often with diced tomato folded through. The best versions keep the texture chunky and the flavours bright and simple.

Served with tortilla chips, tacos and grilled meats, it is prized for the way lime and chilli lift the rich, buttery avocado.

Guacamole originated with the Aztecs of central Mexico, who combined native avocados into a sauce they called ahuacamolli — from ahuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce). Avocados had been cultivated in Mesoamerica for thousands of years.

Spanish colonisers encountered the dish in the sixteenth century and carried the avocado abroad. Today guacamole is a global symbol of Mexican cooking, though purists still insist on a molcajete — the volcanic-stone mortar — and a light hand with the extras.