Chilean Fruits and Vegetables

Summer is an especially tasty time in Chile, when many fruits and vegetables are in season and available to enjoy. On Sunday, we visited with missionary friends and received a huge bag of cherries fresh off the tree in their backyard! Owen enjoyed savoring several of the cherries on our front step this morning …

Avocados and lemons are also a staple in most Chilean households. In Chile, avocados are not called “aguacates” like in most Latin American countries but rather “paltas.” They are served sliced, mashed, on bread, in salads, and most frequently flavored with lemon, salt and oil.

Lemons are used to flavor almost every Chilean salad, and it was only upon returning to Chile that I learned a trick I could have used for the past 10+ years: rolling the lemon before slicing it and squeezing out the juice produces much quicker and juicier results! Which left me to wonder, was I the only one who didn’t know about this??