Holy Guaca-Moly! That's an awesome taste you've got there

What would you do if someone told you that you had to prepare over a ton of guacamole for the Fallbrook Avocado Festival? Would you laugh in disbelief? Faint from sheer shock? Or would you head for the nearest exit? Surprisingly, George Bamber, owner of the ever-popular Holy Guaca-Moly, does not succumb to any of the previous scenarios. Instead, he compares festival day to preparing for a small war.

“You better be prepared like you are going into battle,” said Bamber, laughing. “I can’t tell you how much intensity and pressure there is at the booth window.” Bamber prides himself on people never having to wait in a long line for their Holy Guaca-Moly sample. “Keep people moving” is their motto.

Bamber said he has first-time guacamole buyers who take their samples every year. Over the years, he has discovered that people who have no intention of buying guacamole will usually taste it. Bamber said these people usually walk away, then return chewing and say, “I’ve gotta buy some of that.” These samples have effectively raised sales about 30 percent, and consumers’ comments helped develop the company’s name.

“When people had the samples, they would taste it and say, ‘God, is that good!’” recalls Bamber. So, his sense of humor triggered the trademark name: Holy Guaca-Moly.

Bamber’s philosophy is that people going to festivals should enjoy a good time, so people who gather at the Holy Guaca-Moly booth should be prepared to joke around and laugh a lot. “Our purpose is for the customer to have fun at these festivals,” Bamber said.

Holy Guaca-Moly is not only a booth of gaiety but a place to taste this incredible guacamole that has won more than 20 major awards. Bamber believes there are three reasons why his guacamole has been such a huge hit:

1. It is kept chunky in texture, never pureed.

2. Only Haas avocados are used.

3. Plastic wrap, rather than lemon, is used to keep the guacamole from turning brown. The plastic is placed directly on the guacamole’s surface to prevent oxidation.

Being an expert in avocados and guacamole, Bamber observed that what makes great guacamole is not the ripeness of the fruit but rather the oil content. He maintains that the highest oil content is found in the Haas avocado.

“They didn’t raise bananas to make banana bread, and they didn’t raise avocados to make guacamole,” said Bamber with a glint in his eyes. He explained that when avocados start to go bad in climates without refrigeration, people make the fruit into a mole sauce.

Bamber attends between 10 and 15 festivals a year but concedes the Fallbrook Avocado Festival is the most rigorous one of all. “[Holy Guaca-Moly staff] has a meeting the day before the festival,” he said. “This is our most intense event.”

There is a lot to do in preparing for this big day. The first is to find the best avocados. “We are getting the Haas avocados from Del Rey Avocado,” Bamber said. “This is an advantage when you are making guacamole, because they can pre-condition them. This means that all 2,500 pounds are at the same degree of ripeness.”

After all these years of involvement in Fallbrook’s festival, Holy Guaca-Moly has all the rudiments ironed out. Bamber staffs the operation with an average of 30 people. Joni Wilhelm, new owner of The Lace Apron at 118 North Main, has opened her kitchen facility for the Holy Guaca-Moly crew. She will also be offering Holy Guaca-Moly for sale in the weeks to come.

In addition to placing the order for avocados, more will be done in advance. “There will be so many servings of guacamole, it’s just not possible to do it all on the day of the festival,” Bamber said. “On the Friday before the festival <April 20>, we will prepare all the vegetables and herbs [onions, tomatoes and cilantro, for example].”

On Saturday, Bamber said, there will be a crew to prepare the batches of guacamole, which will then be iced down. On the day of the festival, the crew of Holy Guaca-Moly will be serving samples at their booths.

Bamber has been part the Fallbrook Avocado Festival since the second year of its inception and says he enjoys every minute of it. “It’s going to be kind of hard to miss us, so come on up without any commitment,” he said, grinning. “Taste the best guacamole that Southern California has to offer – and sample at your own risk!”