How To Keep Your Guacamole From Turning Brown

The Super Bowl is upon us, which means it's time to get your head in the game. Pick your team—that is, who you'll be feasting with—and figure out how you want to fuel up. Once you've chosen your menu, make a game plan for preparation so that you can actually watch some of the commercials . . . we mean the game.

If guacamole is on the books (as it should be), you don't have to wait until the last minute to make it. Save the final moments for melting cheese on your potato-skin nachos and get the gauc out of the way early. Don't worry about it turning all sorts of unappetizing colors. There's a trick to keeping it green:

Pour a shallow layer of water on top of your guacamole to prevent it from browning.

It may sound strange, but this method is the best way to keep the top of the dip as presentable and inviting as it should be.

Sure, you can squeeze lime or lemon juice into the guacamole, and you should anyway for taste. But this doesn't work as well as the water trick for preventing discoloration. You can also stick an avocado pit into the middle of the bowl, though this does nothing for the top. Plastic wrap is another option, but not only will you lose some precious avocado that way, it simply doesn't work as well as water.

Try it out, and you'll never look back. Pack the guacamole into a bowl or Tupperware container, cover with about half an inch of lukewarm water and affix a lid. When you're ready to devour the stuff in a few hours, or even in a couple days, gently pour off the water and give the guacamole a good stir. No one will ever know you prepared it ahead of time.