Shakes like this one are produced just about everywhere soft fruit is grown; sometimes they’re very sweet and sometimes not. You must play with the recipe a bit to find out where your own taste lies. For fruit shake ideas, see the variations.

　　

Ingredients

makes 2 servings

　　1 medium to large avocado, quite ripe

　　1 1/2 cups milk or sweetened condensed milk

　　1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

　　Ice cubes

　　

Step 1

Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, scoop out the pulp, and place it in a blender with the milk, sugar, and ice cubes. Blend until smooth and frothy.

　　

Step 2

Taste and add more sugar if you like. Serve immediately.

　　

Banana Shake

Step 3

Really great with a tiny bit of vanilla extract added: substitute 1 or 2 ripe bananas for the avocado.

　　

Mango Shake

Step 4

I like this with a squeeze of lime: substitute the pulp of 1 or 2 mangoes for the avocado.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.