People used to extend guacamole with mayonnaise. I guess peas would be better. In California we put all kinds of good things in our Guacamole, like chopped onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes. Some people use small beans and corn kernals. Also lime juice or lemon, or even orange, vinegar (often in the form of hot sauce), or other acid, all kinds of spices, but the squishy part is all avocado. But I've never heard of peas or pea puree in it. Still sounds better than mayonnaise, though. :)

I have never eaten it with peas but had heard of it before. It would certainly be more cost effective. I have seen recipes that use pureed white beans with avocado for a mockamole which is not too bad but still is not as good as the real thing.

It really is just a fun way to use your harvest, or without a garden, use what is fresh in the farmers markets. Before i had a garden, i stopped at the UnionSquare Greenmarket every week. Tossing together seasonal produce.

We had taco night last week and i use pea shoots and snap peas as the green 'salad' with guacamole....fetta and yogurt as the crema. basil cilantro.

Same with regional and seasonal favorites like EasternShore succotash. All that fresh garden stuff goes so well together.

Fresh peas with humus is really good but i would not go out of my way and buy a can of peas. I have a massive pea season this year. Not about to make a rhubarb pea pie, lol. But i have to do something with them. Just snacking fresh all day is best, to a point. Freeze some, give some away...

I bought avocados a couple of days ago and am planning to make guacamole this evening. It will not have peas in it. I make a basic guacamole recipe: avocado, lime juice, salt, Serrano chilies, green onions (or chives - I have chives and will use those), and tomatoes or tomatillos. I then use the guacamole as a garnish for other dishes, and if it would have extraneous ingredients in it, it would be less versatile. I serve guacamole when I make Migas, burritos, tacos, etc. Sometimes I make tofu tacos, which only have corn tortillas, cheddar (or Jack) cheese, sauteed strips of tofu, and a bit of guacamole. If I have it, I add alfalfa sprouts. I've discovered that I can make a lot of tacos (I only make soft tacos, like the ones in Mexico) by putting about eight tortillas on a baking sheet with the cheese and filling (not guacamole) and then bake the tortillas for about 10 minutes in the oven. I used to make them one at a time in iron skillets, but it is more efficient to bake them. For me, guacamole is a standard menu item for July 4th, but peas are not. I've been serving guacamole with beans or bean dip since forever ago, and beans go better with it than peas would, I think. Peas are too sweet, but I do often put them in rice - just not Spanish rice.

ugh.... I don't think I could stand for peas in my guacamole. I'm not a fan of minty mushy peas, either, which is what this brings to mind. I too am making guac for the 4th, along with my assigned dish.

To me it's not guac if it has stuff like that in it, but FWIW, broccoli is also popular for this, and I guess peas would be better than that. I was hoping that now that the lowfat mania is supposed to be over that putting fillers in guac to cut the fat (which was the original intent of most of these types of recipes) would have died out.

I've made a pea/cottage cheese/swiss cheese sandwich spread with frozen peas. That would be fantastic with a slice of guacamole on a sandwich topped with some alfalfa and sunflower seeds on whole grain bread. As a dip with corn chips or on top of my heuevos rancheros . . . not so much. But to me it would be a texture thing. I have no idea why I don't like mushy peas, because I like pea soup and whole peas.

Low fat? Wouldn't it be better just to eat less guacamole if one were on a diet? (Ignoring entirely that avocado is good fat.) I have nothing against a good pea puree (which should taste green and sweet like petits pois, not starchy and slimy like mushy peas)--just not in my guacamole! I thought it was just a cheap trick for people who live where avocados are expensive. Unless the avocados were put in the pea puree as fat instead of cream?

The Guardian did a taste test, with varied responses

Peas in guacamole: the taste verdict on the controversial recipe

Actually, there was a theme running through all the responses -- the thing the British chef fed to the Australians in the article, they said, wasn't guacamole! The peas overpowered the avocado, etc. It's not so much whether peas and avocado can make a tasty pea dip, it's whether it makes guacamole.

Let's see them try that in Texas! Or Michoacan.

I'm a purist, no peas, no mayo and anything else that doesn't belong in a guacamole. I'm not into "mock" recipes.

They showcased this on a CBS This Morning segment a couple days ago. I'm with Ann ... no thanks! If I'm eating guacamole I want the real thing.

That said, I do like some of the new types of hummus made with lentils or beans other than garbanzos. Guess they could fall into the "mock" category. Eat Well Embrace Life hummus

Y'know, if we'd just say mash, puree, dip, spread, sauce, glop, gloop, goo or slime, instead of "guacamole" or "hummus", instead of setting up false expectations of avocado or chickpea flavor, we could be happy with whatever new taste was created!

How did I know you were going to say something like that, lol? I remember the bisque discussion on the French terms thread a couple months ago. I make a wonderful butternut squash bisque and sweet potato andouille bisque. ;) Sorry if that makes your skin crawl.

Nothing wrong with chickpeas. Actually love 'em, but I also love the new "hummus". I'm not a stickler for word usage. Still don't want peas in my guacamole.

LOL! CindyMac, it is a bugaboo. I have absolutely nothing against lentil paste. Or sesame lentil paste.

Yeah, right. That's why you call it paste. Maybe you should try some. Expand your horizons.

No, I call it paste because it's descriptive of the consistency. There are lots of food pastes. Both "pasta" and "pate'" mean paste. Choux paste is a pastry when cooked, and the word "pastry" comes from paste, and originally also described the dough. Hummus b'techinah salad is a paste. Techinah is a paste and says so on the jar. I've had many salads made with techinah. I've had many different kinds of bean paste, dip, salad or whatever you'd like to call it. I'm not too fond of lentils, but I would certainly try that one if it came my way. My current favorite is a red bean and chili paste.

BTW, I wasn't the one taking up cudgels over "bisque", though I understand the point of the people who do.

I agree. The stuff with peas is a pea dip with avacado in it - not a guacamole. I'm sure it's quite delicious and I'll certainly try it. BTW, CindyMac I'm the PITA about using terms properly ;) ;) ;)

It's amazing how much this 2013 NYTimes recipe (and recent tweet) has stirred up strong reactions all over social media and the internet, even the President and some presidential candidates have weighed in, with language usually reserved for contentious political issues.

plllog, oh, that's right. Hummus was your irritant and bisque was Islay's.

Way back when, when I had a house full (6) of growing boys and a husband to feed on a VERY limited budget, and avocados were priced like gold, I would occasionally 'splurge' on 1 or 2 (if they were on sale) and use cottage cheese to 'stretch' the guacamole. As long as you don't use too much, it's not really all that noticeable, doesn't make too much difference in flavor. (Especially to 'uneducated' palates.) So I figured the idea of using the peas came about the same way, someone trying to 'stretch' what they had. If I'd thought of using peas, I probably would have tried it, it doesn't seem like they would have too much influence on the flavor. Depending, of course on the ratio of peas to avocado. Especially the way it is most commonly made around here, lots of spices and chopped fresh tomatoes, which I do not use. I think I'm going to have to try this, just to see for myself! :>)

Rusty