Shanisty Ireland on National Guacamole Day 2023

Shanisty Ireland, a home chef and lifestyle influencer, discusses the upcoming National Guacamole Day. Guacamole has become increasingly popular in the United States, especially with the rise of social media and the popularity of tacos. Shanisty shares her favorite ways to prepare guacamole, including adding mango and pomegranate seeds. She emphasizes the importance of using fresh lime juice and recommends serving guacamole with plantain crisps. The demand for avocados and guacamole is high in commercial restaurants, despite the challenges of cost. Shanisty believes that guacamole is a must-have on every menu. She also discusses her website and Instagram page where she shares recipes and parenting tips. You should know this, that we're going to be celebrating National Guacamole Day this coming Saturday. Who doesn't love guacamole and so many different ways to prepare it? My guest who's joining me here at the RNJ morning program, who else when we're celebrating a food holiday than our home chef, foodie, and lifestyle influencer, Shanisty Ireland who is back with us on the program today. Hey Shanisty, it's Bert from WRNJ. How are you doing? I'm good, Bert. Good morning. Thank you for having me. I know your listeners are probably thinking, I mean, every day is a food holiday, right? Pretty much, yeah. Pretty much it is, yeah. But a good one that we're celebrating a little bit in advance. This is like the pregame, if you will, for National Guacamole Day which is coming up on Saturday. Where did this love affair with guacamole come from, Shanisty? It's been around for decades and people that enjoy guacamole are absolutely fanatical about it. How did this all get started? You know, it's funny, Bert. I was thinking about this this morning because I feel as though, especially with the introduction of social media and as things ramp up on TikTok and Pinterest and all of that, we've gotten into these whole taco Tuesday and tacos have just really escalated. They've just become so popular in the United States. And I think along with that popularity of tacos, of course, comes the side of extra guacamole. And guacamole, when we think about it, we just think of it in the traditional sense with the avocado, the garlic perhaps, cilantro, lime juice. But there are things you can add to it to spice it up and make it a little bit tastier and have some of your guests, if you're going to be hosting anyone this weekend, perhaps for football, ask you what honors is in this thing and make it a little bit different to give it a little bit of a variety and a twist. I've seen it prepared a couple of different ways, Shanisty. I think it was just sort of a straight blend of the avocado and it was just served with some crackers or like you said, some sort of chips or whatnot. I've seen it served with like tomatoes, you know, diced up tomatoes in there. I've seen it with some red onion mixed in there as well. When you're putting guac together, how do you like to serve it? I like to serve it, first of all, with saluda tostones. They are plantain crisps. And I tell you what, Bert, your guests and your family are going to ask you where you purchase these because they are so delicious. They kind of have this taste of the tropics in every bite. And the awesome thing about this company is they are 100% sustainable, so they love to cook the entire plantain whenever they cut it down. So they smash them, they cook them, they cook them twice. So they're going to be bigger and crunchier and tastier, which is perfect for if you're going to be dipping it into guacamole. That's first off. I love to serve it with the saluda tostones. And then also I like to add a little bit of mango and pomegranate seeds, especially this time of year. You're going to find pomegranate seeds are going to become more relevant in your grocery store and they're going to be easier to find. So for this mango pomegranate guacamole dip, basically I'm going to be taking the avocados per usual. I'm going to be opting for white onion over red onion for this particular recipe. I'm going to add a little bit of serrano chilies to give it a little bit of a spice. Lime juice, of course, always go with the fresh lime juice, Bert. I really recommend people don't buy the stuff in the little jar. Get fresh lime. We're going to do a half a cup of pomegranate seeds, a half a cup of mango, and, of course, the cilantro. Mixing that all together is going to give it a little bit of the sweetness with the savory with every bite of this guacamole. Sounds delicious. And the fresh lime, Shanice, you're right. I mean, how many households that you've been in, does every kitchen in America have that little green plastic bottle in the kitchen that's been there for like years? You don't know how old the lime is in there. Yeah. It's probably in your refrigerator with your simple bitters. Right. Exactly. Get rid of it. Go with fresh. Same with lemon juice. I just think that fresh is better when it comes to this. And you always need to have fresh limes and lemons in the house. I cannot even stress this enough. I swear, every time I'm going to the grocery store, I'm buying that big bundle of it because we use it so much for so many different recipes. Yeah. And it really brings everything to life. Shanice D. Ireland is my guest this morning, home chef, foodie, lifestyle influencer. We're giving you a little bit of a head start if you're going to be celebrating National Guacamole Day this coming weekend. It's officially the 16th, but you can pretty much celebrate anytime. And we're sharing some recipes and some tips here today. From the commercial side of furnishing guacamole, Shanice D., I'm sure you keep a close eye on what's going on in the restaurant and commercial food service as well. Years ago, I can recall having conversations with restaurant owners here in New Jersey that say they simply have to serve and make guacamole available, even if they have to make it available at a loss, simply because the demand from the customers is so high. And the cost from the restaurant's perspective to be able to acquire avocados to make guacamole, even if they take a loss on it, they say that the customers are so insistent on it. It's almost like they have to do a loss leader, where at least they can get people in to maybe buy something else. But people still demand the avocados and the guacamole. And you can't price them out, so you have to keep it as something that's a little bit on the reasonable side. But for a lot of commercial restaurants and restaurant owners and diner owners, it's a difficult thing to serve because they lose money on it, but the demand is still high. That's something that I think is going to continue. What do you think? I think that's a great question, Burt. My husband actually owns a restaurant here in Columbus, Ohio, and that is one thing on their menu they have to have, and it has to be an upcharge, too, on most of their item menus, not necessarily on the nachos that comes with the nachos, but if you want to have guacamole, it's a dollar more. And it's something that people really do demand. They love having the avocado. They love having guacamole on the side. And as you mentioned, the price varies big time. You know, 90% of the avocados grown here in the United States, of course, are grown on the western side of the United States, not necessarily on our side. So it just, you know, and we can't really predict how it's going to be with weather and the farmers and all of that kind of stuff, but I think that having guacamole and avocados on every single menu is a necessity no matter what kind of cuisine you're in. Maybe perhaps not Italian food, but whatever kind of cuisine you're in, 100%, you've got to have on the menu. No one would ever dare to try to put sliced avocado on a pizza, Shanisty, would they? I mean, we've got pineapple. We've got pickles. Is avocado next? I don't know. I don't, that's a great question. I do love a good Hawaiian pizza, but no, I don't think avocados are going to be making their way onto the pizza or on top of spaghetti anytime soon. I agree. Let's hope not. Shanisty, where can we find recipes and more about you online? Go to Instagram, Shanisty Ireland. Also on my website, she's becomingdomestic.com. I have a lot of really fun stuff on there, Bert, right now, especially with back-to-school, back-to-school, after-school snacks, dinners for busy families, and just a lot of parenting tips on there as well. All right. Well, look, Shanisty Ireland, early happy National Guacamole Day to you, and thanks as always for checking into the RNJ Morning Program. All right, Bert. We'll chat again soon. Thank you.