Jus alpokat. Again.

When should the jus alpokat tourist visit Indonesia? In Biak in November and December 2010 there were avocados everywhere, but in Bali and Timor in August 2011 there were hardly any to be had, and jus alpokat was extremely difficult to find. In Timor, the avocado trees were in full flower and many had small fruits on the trees - these small fruits being the size of the ripe avocados sold in the UK. Indonesian avocados can quite much bigger - the size of a small cabbage, and when ripe rattle as the stone (the single seed) becomes loose inside. In the UK I don't think I've ever rattled an avocado, just given them a gentle squeeze, and when ripe they can be a bit 'mushy' which may be due to the fruits being picked and shipped when unripe and thus ripened 'off the tree'.

Avocado flowers.

In Timor at the night market (Pasir Panjang, Kupang), I watched the fruit juice stall and this was their recipe (though formula is probably a better term for a smoothie). The juice was a bit weak. Either the fruit was too small and there was too much ice, or the fruit was too early to have any great flavour - experimenting with good ripe fruit and the amount of ice will get it just right.

1 avocado (a bit small, an early 'lowland' fruit)

about 2 large dollops (tablespoons?) of condensed milk (the normal kind)

about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar

ice of an equivalent volume to the avocado

Blended together till very smooth (this took longer than I expected) and served in glasses lined with a swirl of chocolate condensed milk - perhaps chocolate ice cream sauce may work (I've never seen chocolate condensed milk on sale in the UK).

Sunset, Kupang.

Jus alpokat.

This green sludge is jus alpokat, or avocado juice to give it a basic translation from the Indonesian. (Advokat or alpukat are also Indonesian for avocado, though the first one can mean lawyer, and lawyer juice doesn't sound very enticing.)


I don't know how it is made, but at a guess it is something like an avocado, lots of condensed milk, and ice blended together; the brown streaks are chocolate condensed milk. I don't really care how it is made, but I think it is delicious. It's perfect with anything that has some spicy sambal, is a great stomach liner before something a bit oily, or is so versatile it can be a pudding at the end of the meal; highly recommended.

PS. Incredulously, the Lonely Planet Indonesia guide lists avocado juice in a list of four "We Dare You...specialities that make for a real culture shock" (together with dog in Sulawesi, durian, and Balinese pork offal specialities), which is just silly because whilst it's not everyone's cup of tea it's hardly different from very sloppy gaucomole.