My new life in the Republic of Georgia

[Maxx2]

Freezing avocados doesn't work, maxx. You'd be better of mashing a ripe one and dehydrating it to powder, then just add water later - or better yet, get what Gator told you.

Do remember one very important thing behind any Mexican food. Its heart and soul. SALSA.

The problem with Gator's lead is it needs refrigeration and that would add heavily to its cost.


Dehydrating avocados might be tricky. They have a high fat content and from what I read have a short shelf life. Maybe it would work if it was put in the freezer?


It is amazing what you can find with Google. I just read this:


Turkey aims to grow 60 million avocados

Antalya's Alanya district produces 70% of the total number of avocados in Turkey. This year, the aim is to produce 60 million avocados throughout the country in a total area of 40 thousand hectares.

The avocado was first brought to Turkey from Mexico in 1953, but commercial production only started in Antalya (Alanya and Gazipasa) and Mersin (Anamur) in the 1990's. Last year, Alanya alone produced 40 million avocados. The wholesale price for avocado is 2 to 2,5 Lira (0,3 to 0,4 Euro), it costs 4 to 5 Lira (0,6 to 0,8 Euro) in grocery stores.

An abundance of avocado this year
Hilmi Sevilgen, the head of Alanya Avocado Producers' Association, said that producers are content with the avocado production this year and that the prices are at normal levels. Sevilgen added: "Thanks to the good weather avocado production is abundant and the quality is good".

Sevilgen emphasized that they exported avocados to Ukraine, Romania, Russia and Iran and said: "We exported to 5 different countries this year. These include Ukraine, Romania, Russia and Iran. Recently, Azerbaijan asked for avocados, however we were finished with the harvest then, so we couldn't send any. We often say that we need to produce more avocados, but the good news is that we increase the production day by day. We used to produce 20 million avocados, this was increased to 40 million in 2018. Now we expect 60 million of avocados in Turkey this year."


Can You Dehydrate Avocado ?

Why sure if you follow as described in our tutorial you will get what you want.
The food dehydrator i used is the Nesco food dehydrator which on of the top food dehydrators and besy sellers on Amazon because it’s cheap and very easy to use.

Ingredients

4 avocados, split and set (don’t remove the skin ) 1/2 lemon

• 1/4 glass of fresh cilantro

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• Instructions
• Slice the avocados.

• Squeeze lemon juice onto the avocado slices.

• Remove the peel from the slices and lay them out on your dehydrator racks.

• Chop your cilantro finely.

• Sprinkle the avocado slices with cilantro, cayenne, and sea salt.

• Dehydrate in a good food Dehydrator for 10 hours at 165 degrees.

[2tallbill]

The above photo I took a few weeks ago. This was on the back road to my apartment. Here in Batumi where the grass is green all year long all the cows are grass fed. Their meat and dairy products are full of the anti-inflammatory omega 3s.

Maxx,

I'm glad you are continuing your blog.

Good luck!

Bill

[Maxx2]

Maxx,

I'm glad you are continuing your blog.

Good luck!

Bill

Thanks Bill.


My days starts while your's ends. Drinking my second cup of coffee and getting ready to go out.

[BC]

Shipping costs are $7 a kilo by air (10 days to two weeks) and $1 a kilo by ship (6 weeks to 2 months).


Thanks BC, I'll check your link. I just got up. 6:38 AM where I am at.

Would be interested in knowing the shipping company with those prices.  Send me a message if you don't want to post on board.

Regarding avocados, Turkey is farming them in the Gazipasa area and they are exporting to several countries in the region.  Considering geography worth looking into.  Turkey does a lot of dried fruits also so that process is well known there.  Fresh in season, dried otherwise.

[Maxx2]

Would be interested in knowing the shipping company with those prices.  Send me a message if you don't want to post on board.

Regarding avocados, Turkey is farming them in the Gazipasa area and they are exporting to several countries in the region.  Considering geography worth looking into.  Turkey does a lot of dried fruits also so that process is well known there.  Fresh in season, dried otherwise.

I'm getting it and will post it here.


Camex.ge New Castle, Delaware  $7 per kilo by air
 
Inex.ge  Williamton, Delaware $6.95 per kilo by air

Barami.ge  Williamton, Delaware  $1 per kilo by ship and shipped to the port of Poti, Republic of Georgia

[Maxx2]

Three years, one month, a week and two days ago after an accident with a semi. I'm Skyping a Ukrainian woman I know in Lviv





 

[GQBlues]

The problem with Gator's lead is it needs refrigeration and that would add heavily to its cost.


Dehydrating avocados might be tricky. They have a high fat content and from what I read have a short shelf life. Maybe it would work if it was put in the freezer? ...

My daily routine in the morning is coffee, then an alternating smoothie for breakfast. I alternate between blueberries or avocado w/ coconut water (not milk). I use my ninja for this. IMO, every time I refrigerate (froze it once) avocadoes to 'regulate' down their ripening, they lose both the taste and that buttery texture. Worst when placed in the freezer, then thawed. The texture after thawing never reach that 'ripen' state with an accelerated browning of the fruit. It has a rubber-like texture and tastes 'bitter'.

We get avocadoes from 3 sources where we are: Local growers (farmer's market), imports from Mexico and Peru (markets). Sold individually or bunches. So you either go to the source and get one for the morning smoothie, or a bunch of 3-4 for the week's supply. That's when you begin juggling with the different stages of the fruit's ripening stages. BTW, IMHO, Hass avocadoes from Mexico had consistently been the better fruit compared to the other two.

Again - SALSA, mind the SALSA. I know of no good Mexican restaurant that served mediocre Salsa.

[Maxx2]

My daily routine in the morning is coffee, then an alternating smoothie for breakfast. I alternate between blueberries or avocado w/ coconut water (not milk). I use my ninja for this. IMO, every time I refrigerate (froze it once) avocadoes to 'regulate' down their ripening, they lose both the taste and that buttery texture. Worst when placed in the freezer, then thawed. The texture after thawing never reach that 'ripen' state with an accelerated browning of the fruit. It has a rubber-like texture and tastes 'bitter'.

6:08 AM as I start to write this. Evening your time for those in the US.


Thanks GQ for the information. I think dehydrating avocados is something I shouldn't even think about. It is such a delicate fruit.


Today Michaell is supposed to come over to teach me to process fat into lard. There is supposed to be some spices added to it. I'll take some photos and post them here.


SALSA, I am sure he knows a good recipe for that. 

[Maxx2]

Maxx,

Straight up. IMO, you are in no condition (emotionally, financially, health-wise, etc) to embark in any type of biz,

Actually the one to worry about is Michael.


Michael is a 50 year old Native American (Apache) I met living here in Batumi. As I said he grew up running a Tex-Mex restaurant with his father in southwest Texas. Michael is an easy going likable guy. He is going through an emotional crisis right now. His Azerbaijani wife left him a month ago. Supposedly she moved back to Azerbaijan as he was told and cut off all communication with him. I say supposedly because he found evidence of her living here. He was walking as he often does and spotted her hair tie on the sidewalk. He figured she had dropped it from the clothes line above so he waited and seen her at the window. Later when he was walking he ran into her. They had a brief conversation. She told him she had filed for a divorce. She has a job at the front counter of a downtown casino and shares an apartment with a woman. Michael says his wife is quite beautiful.


He met his wife at the office of his former employer. He worked in the Caspian Sea oil fields and made good money. They were married 3 years ago. About that time they left their jobs and lived the good life that a pile of money can provide. After a one year honeymoon of foreign travel Michael decided to look for a job. His resumés got nowhere. After 3 years on not working he is running out of savings. Adding to his problems was the Azerbaijani government was threatening to deport him as he hadn't kept up with their residency requirements. Hence a life in Georgia. He does not want to go back to the US. He is hoping to get a good job someplace in this world and get his wife back.


Michael's emotions are a roller coaster right now. I am not sure he will even be up for getting together today. A few times he has told me "no" for going to a restaurant (I pay) because he wasn't up for it.


Anyway I see red flags and potential pitfalls for a partnership (to put it mildly). However I don't want to throw away the idea of a Tex-Mex food service business. I just got to have a legal agreement for "what ifs?" and a business structure (individual LLCs) to get something together.


Advice welcomed. 

[ML]

Maxx, I was told very early in my business career . . . going into partnership (contractually formalized or just informal)
with anyone has the same effect as getting married to someone.

And for sure in my early work as a CPA seeing small partnerships and in my continuing work as independent consultant;
this early advice has been proven in spades.

So now you are contemplating (and actually moving ahead with) a partnership with a person who has more than the
average amount of trouble already.

[Maxx2]

Maxx, I was told very early in my business career . . . going into partnership (contractually formalized or just informal)
with anyone has the same effect as getting married to someone.

And for sure in my early work as a CPA seeing small partnerships and in my continuing work as independent consultant;
this early advice has been proven in spades.

So now you are contemplating (and actually moving ahead with) a partnership with a person who has more than the
average amount of trouble already.

This is why I only want a "partnership" only in getting the necessary information to set this thing up. I am thinking he has his hope in finding employment and not in business. I think this because he is the busiest unemployed guy I know. He is constantly online in regards to finding work and continuing his education. Take for example today's schedule of processing fat into lard (One of the ingredients in making flour/corn shells/wraps). This got put off for doing for three days. He had other things to do. I'm not complaining, just observing. 

[GQBlues]

Michael is a 50 year old Native American (Apache) I met living here in Batumi.

  Reminded me of my story when I was in a bar deep the heart of Ekaterinburg, with the gal I was with along with and a room full of drunk Russians celebrating the upcoming Victory Day.

I can still remember the still and worried look on my friend's face....when the room's attention started to focus towards us.

Advice welcomed.

Well, you already have mine at least. It hasn't changed.

[Maxx2]

Michael prepping the fat to be turned into lard.

[jone]

Max,

If you are really serious about this goal of a TexMex restaurant, start some tomato plants.   While tomatos are cheap now, in late summer, around February, you will thank me.

[Maxx2]

Step-by-step


http://www.mexicanplease.com/homemade-lard/


Refried beans, flour tortillas, tamales…they all have a secret ingredient in common that makes them taste Mexican.   
What is it?

Answer:  Lard









It seems that 90% of the weight and 75% of the volume of the fat gets converted into lard. This is just the pork lard. I've got twice as much of the beef lard to process. Should be good to go for quite some time.


Note to the moderators. I've noticed the page is quite elongated. Is it because of Gator's long link posted on a previous page?

[Maxx2]

Note to the moderators. I've noticed the page is quite elongated. Is it because of Gator's long link posted on a previous page?

I mean when I am writing a reply or doing a modification. The page stretches way out.

[Maxx2]

Max,

If you are really serious about this goal of a TexMex restaurant, start some tomato plants.   While tomatos are cheap now, in late summer, around February, you will thank me.

I'll give an update on the tomatoes soon.The cost per kilo etc. (Very low)

A red tomato sauce is next and salsa comes afterwards. For now just a photo of the two types of tomatoes we will be checking for the best taste. The bigger ones cost 60% more.

[Maxx2]

Reminded me of my story when I was in a bar deep the heart of Ekaterinburg, with the gal I was with along with and a room full of drunk Russians celebrating the upcoming Victory Day.

I can still remember the still and worried look on my friend's face....when the room's attention started to focus towards us.

I know the feeling. When you are really different people don't know what to make of you and leave you alone. I feel a sort of protection around me. Even the police leave me alone and let me off when I get pulled over for some minor traffic violation. Four times now!

[Maxx2]

The name of the business


Los Compadres Americanos


The Los Compadres was the name of Michael's Tex-Mex family business. I added the Americanos. Here fast food like McDonalds and Burger King is considered a treat, by the young. The older folks can't get past their Khinkali (ravioli without the marinara sauce) and Khatchapuri (cottage cheese bread).

[Maxx2]

My Landlord's daughter and her aunt.

[msmob]

.....

[Maxx2]

Tex-Mex food prep carries on





First the tomatoes are cored and sectioned for skin removal





Boiled



[/color][/size]
De skinned







We liked the taste of the cheaper costing tomatoes the best. 27 cents a pound verses 46 cents a pound.
.




.


.

[BdHvA]

One thing we might have a problem getting is a steady supply of Avocados. They are very seasonal here. Many people here don't even know what they are. My landlady in Tbilisi and her caretaker/translator (women in their 40s) had never seen one before. Avocados might be in stock at the Carrefour store. I have seen them there before. We'll have to experiment and see how well they keep in the freezer, either whole or made into guacamole. They have guacamole in a jar on the shelves here next to the chips, but it is the most vile stuff I've ever tasted! Doesn't even taste like avocados.


Posting this helps me think. I am not sure I would have even thought of testing the keep ability of avocados.

Maxx, Thank you continuing the thread.

Regarding keeping avocado's long term I would suggest looking at how apples are long term stored. I believe supper dry and just above freezing.

[Boethius]

Avocados can't be stored the same way as apples.  Their texture changes, probably because of the softeness and high fat content of the fruit.


Ripe avocados can be frozen.  Their flavour will be preserved, but their texture changes.  That's not a problem for guacamole or mashed avocado, but it will be for any use for whole pieces. 


This post was composed without the aid of google.

[BillyB]

Regarding keeping avocado's long term I would suggest looking at how apples are long term stored. I believe supper dry and just above freezing.

Some of the apples we eat in America are a year old. Refrigeration is good for short term storage but controlled atmosphere is needed for long term storage. Maybe Maxx can make a storage systemand lower the amount of oxygen and increasing the percentages of other gases in there. This thread is making me hungry. When's dinner Maxx?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/02/sleep-storage-keeps-bumper-crop-of-apples-fresh/3389877/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/092552149400032N