Given the vast array of things we’ve been doing to our avocados lately, it comes as no surprise that someone has figured out how to turn them into a crispy, crunchy snack: Avocado chips are a thing now, thanks to a Bend, Ore.-based company called AvoLov. True story: Headlines I considered pitching for this piece include, “Avocado Chips Are Coming, Start Clutching Your Pearls Now,” “Avocado Chips Are Why You Can’t Afford A House,” and “Millennials Are Killing Everything, Even Chips.”
Ahem.
Anyway.
The chips aren’t available for purchase yet, but they did just make their big debut at Natural Products Expo West, a major trade show for the “natural, organic, and healthy products industry” that occurs annually. This year, the expo ran from March 8 to 11 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. — and at booth #5107 in Hall E, AvoLov had its first public appearance.
“We wanted to create a plant-based snack option unlike anything else and chose the avocado for its great taste and excellent nutritional benefits,” said AvoLov founder and CEO Eric Healy in a press release. Made from Hass avocados, the chips purport to have a “rich creamy taste” with “the same flavor and nutrition of the fresh avocados.” There will eventually be four flavors available — Pink Himalayan Salt, Chili Lime, Sriracha, and White Cheddar — which will retail for around $5 per bag. They’re expected to launch on the West Coast sometime this year and will expand nationally throughout 2018 and 2019.
Said Healy, “We are excited to be defining a new snack food category with the launch of our AvoLov Avocado Chips.” He added, “Plus, additional avocado-based snacks will follow.
Although BuzzFeed’s Arielle Calderon, who got to try AvoLov’s chips at Expo West, described them as “literally just dehydrated avocados,” there does seem to be a little more to it than that; the image of the Sea Salt variety’s bag art on the AvoLov website says that they’re made of “Hass avocados, mashed and dried to perfection,” so I assume the avocados are made into some kind of paste, which is then flattened out and dried such that they have a chip-style consistency. (Indeed, according to the AvoLov press release, the company “dries [the avocados] at low temperatures to preserve the superfood nutrients and rich creamy taste.”) We also know that they’re seasoned at minimum with sea salt; the Chili Lime and Sriracha varieties currently visible on the website also presumably have chili, lime, and Sriracha in or on them, and I expect the White Cheddar variety mentioned in the press release will involve… y’know… white cheddar.
Interestingly, AvoLov is actually not the first company to have attempted to market a chip-like snack made from avocados. A quick look around the internet brought up a tiny bit of information about a company known as Avosnack, which appears to have marketed its wares between roughly 2009 and 2016. (Or at least, those are the dates its Facebook page was active; it was founded in 2009, and seems to have ceased posting as of July 18, 2016.) Based in Chile, the company made an avocado chip snack with a mere five ingredients on the label: Avocados, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and sea salt.
However, Avosnack doesn't seem to be in operation anymore; a link to what used to be the Avosnack website on the company's LinkedIn page redirects to the website of Greenrise Foods, the Palo Alto-based company who appear to have sold the chips in the American market — and that website is now defunct, so my assumption is that the whole operation has closed up shop. Also, although they’re listed on Amazon, they’re also “currently unavailable,” so… there’s that.
I’m admittedly not sure if it’s possible to recreate AvoLov’s or Avosnack’s offerings in your standard home kitchen; food blog Kirbie’s Cravings tried once way back in 2012, but the results weren’t too successful. But hey, you know what you can make at home? Avocado fries. Most of the recipes I’ve found involve breading avocado slices in panko crumbs and then baking them, although apparently you can outright fry them, too. (If state fairs have taught us nothing else, it’s that there’s not much you can’t fry.)
Interested in trying AvoLov? Keep an eye on their website; presumably more information will be forthcoming as they near their actual release. Happy noshing!
