Avocado Milk 酪梨牛奶
With a secret ingredient that makes it refreshing, creamy, and downright charming
As a kid growing up in Taiwan, I was never fond of avocados straight up. Unlike the buttery, creamy, and mild-flavored Haas avocado, the variety I remember having was twice as large, had bright green skin even at peak ripeness, tasted lean, and was somewhat (edit: very) funky. The only way I was willing to ingest avocados is in the form of avocado milk: avocados, milk, and honey blended together with some ice. It’s sweet, rich, creamy, fragrant, yet light and almost mousse-like at the same time. It made for a healthy after-dinner dessert that my health-conscious parents had no issues with and made quite a few appearances on our breakfast table.
But avocado milk is not just a children’s drink, but a mainstay at the many fruit and juice stands all around Taiwan, enjoyed by office workers and elementary school kids alike. Walking in any neighborhood in Taipei, it’s easy to find juice stands that feature beautiful glass cases of vibrant, perfectly ripe orange papayas, green avocados, bright-yellow mangos, and red dragonfruit, all neatly arranged in rows and proudly displayed under fluorescent lights. On the menu are papaya milk and avocado milk, fruit juices, as well as cut-up mixed fruit in plastic containers with small bamboo forks for easy consumption. Priced at around 90 Taiwanese Dollars, about 3 USD, avocado milk is a generous treat priced almost the same as a filled-to-the-brim braised pork chop bento. Yet one can argue that avocado milk, or its cousin papaya milk, is a meal in and of itself, dessert included.
Now my parents’ version was absolutely delicious. Yet what makes the fruit stand versions a whole other level is the addition of buding (布丁): the ubiquitous gelatin-based custard available at every 7-11 and corner store in Taiwan. I don’t usually form such an attachment to artificial flavors, but the caramel flavor of buding is something I cannot say no to. “I hate buding, ” says no Taiwanese person ever. It’s eggy (in a very good way), jiggly, sweet, caramel-y, and gone before you know it so you end up eating two.
The buding adds a sweet, custardy note to the avocado milk and masks any vegetal taste of avocados, elevating the drink to dessert status. As an adult making avocado milk for myself, I always add the buding, because I’m worth it and I think you are too. Call it avocado milkshake, avocado smoothie, use a spoon, use a straw, inhale it, it’s all good.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups milk
1 large ripe avocado
1 cup ice
1 buding (use Japanese pudding such as this one)1
2 tbsp honey
DIRECTIONS:
Peel and pit the avocado: With a sharp knife, cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh.
Blend everything together: In a blender, blend the milk, avocado, ice, pudding, and honey until smooth. If the blender’s not moving things along, just add a little more water.
To serve: Pour into tall (or short and chubby) glasses, enjoy immediately.
Taiwanese Uni-President (統一) brand of buding is hard to find outside of Taiwan, but Japanese pudding can be found in most Asian grocery stores in the refrigerated section.