Which NC grocery store guacamole is any good? We taste tested. Our results
The Charlotte Observer regularly checks the prices of various foods, but this time, we measured something else too: Do these dips actually taste good? It may not be worth cheaping out on guacamole for a fun summer gathering if no one will like it.
Stores we visited
- Whole Foods Market
- Trader Joe’s
- Target
- Harris Teeter
- The Fresh Market
- Food Lion
- Publix
- Aldi
- Walmart Supercenter
How we did it
The selections were picked up the morning of Wednesday, May 27, and tasted at 2:15 p.m. They had all been chilled in the office refrigerator, and none appeared to have lost any color.
All dips were tried on Santitas corn chips. No participants actively disliked guacamole — though I may need to issue a brief apology to everyone else for how much this project made the office smell like onions.
Each participant had three votes: two for their favorite dip, one for their second-favorite dip. All votes were tallied at the end, with a total of eighteen votes in play from six people.
The labels and tags were all covered, to prevent bias. It took some hard thinking to rank nine tubs of guacamole– towards the end, I was worried they might blend together in my mind, a thought echoed by other participants. Thank you very much to all the coworkers that were willing to eat this much avocado.
Winners
The winner was The Fresh Market, by a wide margin. The Fresh Market guacamole received nine votes, a full half of those available.
The guacamole is displayed up front in a cooler full of ice, and when I went to get some, it was empty. An employee brought out another guacamole from the store’s backroom. The guacamole is made in house each day, a specification no other grocery store made. It is chunkier, and clearly fresh.
Target took second, with four votes. The Good and Gather Homestyle Guacamole turned out to be the spiciest option, which participants enjoyed.
Harris Teeter took third, with three votes. The Harris Teeter guac was handmade, but did not indicate on the packaging whether it was made day of like The Fresh Market dip. This was the only guacamole that included tomatoes.
Aldi took fourth, with two votes, but did not receive much specific commendation beyond being “good”.
None of the other five guacamoles placed.
Strong feelings
In addition to yellow sticky notes to signify their votes, participants had access to pink sticky notes to indicate dislike. These were not counted in the vote tally.
Participants described the Walmart and Publix guacamoles as over blended and feeling processed. The most scathing description of this texture was “goopy;” not a particularly appetizing thought.
The Trader Joe’s guacamole was not as green as the others, and one person said it tasted indescribably “off”.
Prices
The Fresh Market guacamole was the most expensive option by 60 cents at $7.59. I wouldn’t be angry to pay this price, as the quality was reflected, but there are definitely cheaper options. It was the winning guacamole, but it was also a full $4.60 more expensive than the cheapest guacamole.
Harris Teeter was the second most expensive at $6.99, but placed third. If you want to shell out for a more expensive guacamole and you don’t care about tomatoes, I would go for The Fresh Market.
The other two guacamoles that received votes, Aldi and Target, were among the cheapest. Aldi came in fourth, but was the cheapest option at $2.99. Target came in second, and cost $3.89, making it the third cheapest. Walmart, the second-cheapest option, was among the most disliked. Trader Joe’s and Publix, two of the more expensive options, were also disliked.
