Last post showed how to cut a mango as easily and mess-free as possible. Here’s a great way to combine the “bite of tropical sunshine” fruit flavor of fresh mango with avocado, fresh cilantro, lime, garlic, red onion, and as much – or little – jalapeño pepper as you’d like to pack together an explosion of summertime flavor.

The key to this recipe is using fresh, ripe avocado and mango. The only problem is that fresh avocados and mangos usually come to market underripe and very firm. To check an avocado and mango for ripeness, hold them, one at a time, in the palm of your hand, as shown in the picture book recipe excerpt below, and press on their skin with your thumb using a little more pressure than you’d use to grip a pencil firmly.

Avocados and mangos are ripe when they feel slightly soft to the touch and are indented where you squeezed the skin with your thumb as shown here.

Here are the ingredients you need to make avocado and mango salsa.

Click any picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.