How to cut, slice and peel an avocado

The key to working with avocados is ensuring that the fruit is ripe. Although often it is hard to tell if an avocado is ripe before you cut it open, there is a simple trick to find out how ripe the fruit is. At the top of the avocado there is a small stem. If you peel it back and the fruit is green underneath then it is ripe and ready to slice. If the stem does not pull back easily then it is not yet ripe, and if it is brown underneath, then it is overripe and will be harder to work with.

How to cut an avocado

• Wash the avocado and dry thoroughly with a clean towel or kitchen roll
• Place the avocado on its side on a chopping board
• Starting at the narrow end of the fruit, slice lengthwise down the centre until you reach the seed
• Hold your knife against the seed and rotate the avocado until you have cut completely round the seed
• Hold both halves of the avocado, twist and pull apart
• The seed can be removed by running a thin spoon between the flesh of the fruit and the seed, and gently working it out. However, if you want to store half of the avocado, you should leave the seed in.

How to peel an avocado

Once the avocado has been cut in half, it should peel easily, particularly if the fruit is ripe.

• Scoring the outside of the skin can make it easier to peel. Starting at the top of the avocado, run your knife gently lengthwise down the centre of the fruit
• You should then be able to take hold of the skin and pull it away from the green flesh of the fruit
• If any dark green pieces of skin remain on the soft flesh, these can be scraped off with a knife.
• To prevent the flesh of the avocado going brown on peeling, lime or lemon juice can be brushed over the flesh

How to slice an avocado

Avocados are soft, making then notoriously difficult to slice. However, there are two main methods of slicing an avocado which, used alongside a gentle touch, keep the fruit intact and prevent you from becoming covered in green mush.
Slicing with the skin on:

• Cut the avocado in half
• Gently hold the avocado half and cut the flesh into slices
• Run a thin spoon between the avocado flesh and skin, and gently scoop out the slices.

Taking the skin off first:

• Cut the avocado in half
• Run a thin spoon between the skin and the flesh
• With the skin intact, push the fruit out of the skin onto a chopping board
• Slice the fruit