In 1697, explorer William Dampier recorded a Central American avocado mash made with lime juice and sugar. This episode traces guacamole from the first avocado seeds in Mexico’s Tehuacan Valley, 9,000 to 10,000 years old, to the Nahuatl word ahuacamolli, the ill-fated alligator pear name, and the forces that turned it into a US staple.

We explore how lifting the avocado import ban and demographic change fueled demand, why Super Bowl Sunday shapes the supply chain, and the science of browning and high pressure processing. Then we look at avocado nutrition, regional cousins like guasacaca, the avocado-free guacamole falso, and a record-setting 10,961-pound batch.

• Why avocado domestication in Mexico predates the Egyptian pyramids
• How guacamole got its name and why the alligator pear branding flopped
• Why polyphenol oxidase turns guacamole brown and how plastic wrap stops it
• How high pressure processing keeps store-bought guacamole green without heat
• Mantequilla de pobre, Venezuelan guasacaca and taqueria guacamole falso made from squash