Shoulda Known Better: The Slimcado

Summer time is slim-down time in the B-wich household, since we invitably find a few extra lbs creeping on in the cold, dark months. Plus, warm summer nights and a bounty of produce makes eating a bit lighter seem natural.

At Trader Joe's the other night, husband spied a "Slimcado" which claimed to have 50% less fat, fewer calories than your average green orb.

Now, last time I checked, there were pretty much two main components of the noble avocado: a) fat and b) well...fat. So, if you take away half of the only thing that's in it: what are you left with? Somehow this logic escaped me and $3.99 later I was the proud purchaser of a Slimcado.

After a day or so of ripening said Slimcado it was time to see what a Nicole Richie version of an avocado would taste like. I wasn't really expecting the full buttery unctuousness of a usual avocado but was hoping for something that maybe, kind of had an avocadoishness about it.

Somehow, this thing tasted like a mushy apple. No hint of avocado whatsoever. Not even an underripe avocado. Nothing.

Thought perhaps a squirt of lime and a dash of salt would help bring out it's avocadoeyness, which was surely lurking in there somewhere. After all, it was only 50% less fat than a regular avocado, surely that meant that it at least HALF tasted like an avocado.

Nope.

Down the disposal.

Not that I think many of you out there would be foolish enough to make the same mistake I did...but consider yourself duly warned.

Slimcado= Crapcado.

Did it look like a regular (Hass) avocado? Or a Florida (Doni, Simmonds, Lula, etc) avocado?

The Hass has the bumpy darker green skin:



Florida varieties tend to have smoother, lighter skin:



The florida avocados taste like ass.

It was more like a Florida Avocado than a Haas.

I tend to prefer the Haas as well but this was like a Florida Avocado that had all the taste vacuumed out of it.

when we first tried a slimcado a few years ago, which was also from trader joe's, it was excellent - just a lighter taster version of the regular hass avocado. in fact, i hated avocados prior to that slimcado and it's what turned me on to them (love them now!).

however, for some reason, in the past couple years the slimcados have not tasted like anything - as you mentioned, just watery and crappy. but just wanted to say that it hasn't always been this way.

I, too, once succombed to the allure of the low-fat avocado (ick) Interestingly, the slimcado and other Florida varieties don't really give you as much bang for your buck, nutritionally speaking, and if you're like me and typically use an entire avocado, the size is working against you. Most nutritional information compares ounce-per-ounce, but I found a site that shows a comparison of two whole ones. (sorry this is sloppy, the first number is Haas, the second Florida...)

Nutritional comparison of Florida vs California (Haas)
Hass (1 fruit = 173 grams) Florida (1 fruit = 304 grams)
Calories 289 365
Total fat 27 grams (g) 31 grams (g)
Protein 4 g 7 g
Dietary fiber 12 g 17 g


Ounce per ounce, you're also losing some of the mineral value (though the Florida varieties have more Vitamin C and E.)
Haas (100 grams) Florida (100 grams)
Vitamin E 2 milligrams (mg) 3 milligrams (mg)
Vitamin C 9 mg 17 mg
Vitamin A 7 micrograms 7 micrograms
Folate 62 micrograms 35 micrograms
Potassium 507 mg 351 mg
Magnesium 29 mg 24 mg
Iron 0.6 mg 0.2 mg
Calcium 13 mg 10 mg
Sodium 8 mg 2 mg
Phosphorous 54 mg 40 mg

The Slimcado doesn't offer much information nutritionally, here it is on 1 cup of pureed fruit (which I think is just slightly less than a whole one)

230 g Slimcado
Calories 276
Fat 23 g
Protien 5 g

All in all, not really worth changing my preferences over...