The Dish: Sofia Deleon's Guatemalan Guacamole and the debut of her Tenango Rum

ByAlicia Vitarelli WPVI logo

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- We're launching a brand new segment on Action News called "The Dish."

We're turning to our city's culinary superstars for recipes they make at home. These are dishes they promise we can make too!

We kick it off with Sofia Deleon, the owner of El Merkury in Center City and Reading Terminal Market.

Just in time for "game time" season, we're learning how to make her homemade Guatemalan guacamole.

"I grew up eating guacamole because in Guatemala, avocado is a staple," Deleon said. "You eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Deleon says the secret to her childhood staple is that it's super fresh and extra crunchy.

"I like to add to mine - cucumbers, celery, a little bit of jalapeno for some kick and cilantro," she says, "so it's an all-green guacamole."

It starts with just-ripe avocados.

"It has to be soft to the touch," she says.

Give the avocado a little squeeze. If it bounces back, you're good to go!

Now, give that avocado a good mash. Then, Sofia says add what you like and skip what you don't.

"I prefer my avocado onion free," she says. "Some people may hate me over that, but I don't like raw onions in my guac."

Sofia chops up larger pieces of celery, and then cucumber for her home guacamole. At he restaurants, it's smoother.

"At El Merkury, we blend these veggies, so they're not as chunky."

Sofia tosses in some cilantro and then adds a little kick.

"I use a little bit of jalapeno, chopped," she says. "This one is seeded, so it's not too spicy. It gives it more crunch."

Sprinkle some salt and squeeze some lime.

And here's pro tip: save that avocado pit to keep the guacamole from turning brown.

"I would just leave the pit in the center of the guacamole," she says, "put a little bit of lime over it and cover it and then it stays good. It will stay green for like two or three hours without it getting brown."

Sofia has also been digging deeper into her Guatemalan roots, and continuing a female, family tradition of distilling rum.

"It's more than a rum," she says. "I started working on rum two years ago during the pandemic. My great-great-grandma was one of the first women distillers in Guatemala."

Her Tenango Rum just debuted last month, a nod to her great-great-grandmother's well steeped footsteps.

"I just thought that it was so fabulous that a woman in the 1920s was involved in anything alcohol related," Deleon says. "I just thought, at some point, I want to be that woman!"

Right now, you can buy Tenango online. It's also being served at some of the city's top restaurants.

On the outside, it's a beautiful, handmade celebration of Guatemala that's making a direct cultural impact.

"The cover is all hand-woven by a co-op of Indigenous women," she says. "We're creating sustainable income. It's a socially conscious product, and it's really good."

Once you pop the top, Deleon says you get a whiff of her homeland.

"If you smell it, it smells like a little bit of coffee, chocolate and some tropical fruit," she says, "and these are all the different things that grow in Guatemala."

The taste, she says, comes as a surprise to some rum drinkers.

"Whenever people try it for the first time, they're like, 'This is smooth,'" she says. "I'm like, 'It's supposed to be smooth. That's how it should be. That's how rum should be!"

Click here for details on Tenango Rum.

Here's what you need for her homemade guacamole recipe: