Like many things in life, undressing fruit is both an art and a science. I've shown you how to shave a kiwi and slip a mango out of its jacket. This week, it's time to learn the delicate art of peeling and pitting an avocado, without blemishing its buttery green flesh. The first thing is to start with an avocado that is perfectly ripe. This is a bit of an art in its own right as it's difficult to tell from the outside when an avocado is ripe without damaging it. At the grocery store, it's tempting to cop a squeeze, but this will bruise the fruit, and if you don't buy it, you'll have left a nice brown spot for the next person. The best way to tell if a Hass avocado (the most common variety) is ripe is by color. It should be a deep purply brown hue with relatively shiny, plump skin. If there's even a hint of green remaining it's probably not ripe yet. If it's closer to black, or if the skin is dull and wrinkled, it's probably over ripe. If you really must be "that guy" who puts his paws all over the avocados, be gentle and use your thumb towards the top of the fruit, it should give just a little, under very light pressure. If you do happen to find yourself at home with an unripe avocado, put it in a paper bag along with a banana and it will ripen in a day or two. This is because bananas release a lot of ethylene gas, which naturally accelerates the ripening of fruit.

Once you have your perfectly ripe avocado, use a sharp knife to slice down the middle of the fruit. Then use your hand to rotate the avocado around the knife, so you've sliced the entire fruit in half all the way down to (but not through) the pit.

Then gently grip each half of the avocado, and twist in opposing directions (pretend you're opening a jar). This will remove the pit from one half of the avocado, but you'll still have the other half to contend with.

Pick up your knife again and carefully give the top of the pit a firm whack. I usually do this in my hand, but I've heard of people needing stitches after missing, so if you are concerned about your aim, leave the avocado on a flat surface. This will wedge the knife in the pit and you can now free the pit from the avocado by twisting the knife and the fruit in opposing directions. Now, just grab an edge of the skin and start peeling. Try to peel the skin off in small strips, if you try to do it all in one piece you might end up with some of that precious fruit on your peel. Once peeled, you can slice it, dice it, or otherwise have your way with with your naked avocado. Enjoy!

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