How to Peel, Seed, Chop an Avocado Without the Mess

Is there anything better than fresh, ripe avocado? Other than fresh guacamole? We had tacos and guacamole with chips last night for dinner and it got me thinking about my avocado eating journey.

Believe it or not, I went at it totally backwards in my early avocado-eating days. I cut and picked all the tough skin off my avocados, then cut the meat off the seed. Talk about green cuticles! But backwards and messy was how I started out in the kitchen. I (slowly!) learned some tips and tricks as I went. Here's a tip about the non-messy way to get at the meat of an avocado:

1. Cut the avocado right through the skin down to the seed from the belly button all the way around and back to the belly button again.

2. Twist the two halves away from each other (one half away from you, the other half toward you).

3. With your knife, flick out the seed and the woody belly button. Sister chops into the seed with her knife and lifts it out, but I found its easier for me to flick it out if the avocado is nice and ripe.

4. Slice or chop the avocado while keeping the skin intact. (Look at that - I STILL managed to get some avocado on my thumbnail!)

5. Place the top of a spoon between the skin and meat of the avocado and gently scoop the meat out of its shell.

6. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe for last nights' guacamole. It's big because I was feeding a crowd. You can pare it down as you like.

Guacamole for a Crowd

5 ripe avocados, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced small
1/2 red onion, minced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 serrano chilis, minced
1/2 lime, squeezed (haha)

Mix well and scoop up with your favorite tortilla chips.