Tip for Peeling Avocados

I just lay the avocado down on a cutting board and move it around the blade of the knife. Easy. No safety issues.

Great tip for folks wanting to avoid Avocado Hand- the injury even has it's own name now, because so many folks cut themselves peeling or cutting one. We see it at work on a regular basis. Usually the problem is in the cutting process, when people hold the avocado in their hand while cutting it open instead of using a cutting board. Fewer have injured themselves stabbing the pit- but enough have managed to do it all the same. While you can peel a thick skinned avocado, thinner skins are not so easily done. I taught my kids to cut one using a sharp paring knife and a pot holder, a kitchen towel, and the cutting board. Place the towel on the board, place the avocado on top of that. Use the potholder in one hand to hold the avocado down. Then insert the paring knife point end in about half way down the avocado, just until you feel the pit. Hold the knife steady in place, and rotate the avocado around the blade- not the knife around the avocado. Twist apart the halves, and use a spoon to pry the pit out. Use the spoon to loosen the fruit from the peel. If your avocado is ripe, that's easily done. If needs be, a vegetable peeler will usually remove a thin skin from an avocado as well. Primarily, folks get hurt because they ignore the first rule of cutting things, which is not to hold the item in your hand while cutting. Or trying to stab the pit.