Classic Guacamole with Tortilla Chips

Use perfectly ripe avocados - they should yield to gentle pressure. Add lime juice immediately to prevent browning. Don't over-mash - texture is key. Rinsing the diced onion in cold water removes some bite. Let it rest 15 minutes before serving for flavors to meld.

Guacamole is among the oldest sauce preparations in the Americas, documented in Nahuatl-language sources from the Aztec civilization of central Mexico under the name āhuacamolli — a compound of āhuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce). Avocados are native to Mesoamerica, cultivated by indigenous peoples for at least five thousand years. Spanish missionaries documented the preparation in the 16th century. The tortilla chip that serves as guacamole's universal partner in American eating has its own notable origin: Rebecca Webb Carranza is widely credited with inventing the tortilla chip in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, when she began frying broken corn tortillas at her El Zarape tortilla factory rather than discarding them. The fried chip became a commercial product by the 1950s and was popularized nationally in the United States by Frito-Lay from the 1960s onward. By the 1970s and 1980s, tortilla chips had become the dominant American party chip, and guacamole — arriving in American grocery stores as avocado cultivation expanded — became their natural partner. Today the United States consumes more than 100 million pounds of avocados during Super Bowl weekend alone, the overwhelming majority in guacamole form.