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Today, I was steaming some kale, and decided to try steaming some avocados as well, so I added them for the last 2 minutes of steaming (out of approximately 6 minutes).

To my surprise, the avocados came out tasting exactly like the yolks of hard boiled eggs. The texture was mushier, but the taste was the same.

Does anyone have a good explanation for why this happened?

P.S. I poured a good amount (enough to give a light coat) of extra virgin olive oil onto the kale before steaming.

Aaronut
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Mike K.
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  • Welcome to Seasoned Advice. As this is a Q&A site, rather than a discussion forum, please try to keep your questions concise and specific and avoid expressions such as "bonus points" (we have a voting system that is tied to actual reputation points). – Aaronut Jun 24 '12 at 04:37
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    Fair enough, I suppose if I amass 29k rep then I shall tell stories undisturbed (http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/4292/is-it-safe-to-eat-a-cooked-steak-that-briefly-touched-the-plate-that-was-holdi) – Mike K. Jun 24 '12 at 04:39
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    @MikeK. There's not really a ton of extraneous detail in that question. (Plus it was written two years ago, well before Aaronut had anything close to 29k rep.) But you're of course welcome to edit your question further if you feel Aaronut didn't preserve important aspects of it. – Cascabel Jun 24 '12 at 04:43
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    No it's fine I was rambling while still in shock from the avocado. Though having your voice stripped from your question is somewhat disheartening. – Mike K. Jun 24 '12 at 04:48
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    If it's any consolation, the most common problem with new-ish members is too *little* detail, which usually leads to closes, not edits. Plus, you got a few upvotes after the edit. It's fine to add a bit of personality, just don't let it bury the actual question - otherwise your question won't get answered due to the "tl;dr" effect (we know from experience). – Aaronut Jun 24 '12 at 11:18
  • If you look around cookbooks you'll find very, very few recipes that involve cooked avocados. They get weird when you try, as you've found out. – Pointy Jun 24 '12 at 15:37
  • @Aaronut - Thanks for the edit, I was just in a grumpy mood yesterday. Pointy - Yea I was actually wondering why no one ever cooks avocados.. – Mike K. Jun 24 '12 at 22:19
  • Thanks for posting this. I never had any idea what happened if you cooked avocados heavily ... now I know not to. – FuzzyChef Jun 25 '12 at 04:07
  • fascinating. I want to try this now. – standgale Jun 28 '12 at 02:02

1 Answers1

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It boils down to chemical make up. Avocados, like egg yolks, contain a decent amount of fats, carotenoids, and sulfurous compounds. Avocados are one of the most concentrated fruit sources of fats and fatty acids. Both egg yolks and avocados contain carotenoid phytochemicals like lutein, zeaxathanin, and a-carotene. In avocados the sulphur is mostly in the form of glutathione, would likely break down into its cysteine during steaming. Cysteine is one of the primary sulphur sources in eggs as well.

Didgeridrew
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    Great answer. But I suppose that steaming it together with kale had the most impact. Avocados don't have that much sulfur, while kale is full of it. – rumtscho Jun 24 '12 at 10:04