In William Dampier’s early guacamole-like recipe, avocados were ground with lime juice and sugar. The recipe appeared in his 1697 travel account, A New Voyage Round the World.
This combination may surprise modern readers, who usually associate guacamole with salt, onion, chile, cilantro, and tomato. Dampier’s description was much simpler and apparently reflected a preparation he encountered during his travels in Central America. It was not presented as a standardized modern recipe, and it was not known by the name guacamole at the time.
Sugar also helps explain why the account should not be treated as a direct description of every traditional Mesoamerican avocado preparation. Historical recipes vary by region, period, and purpose; a travel writer’s observation captures one preparation rather than a universal formula. Lime provided acidity, while sugar supplied sweetness to the rich avocado pulp.
Agave syrup, molasses, and honey are plausible modern substitutions, but they are not the ingredient named in Dampier’s account. The canonical answer for this historical trivia question is therefore sugar.