Stone me! It’s the avocado you can eat whole
‘Perfect for snacking’
PUT down the guacamole and step away from your smashed avocado on toast – there’s a new way to eat the trendy fruit.
Marks & Spencer has launched a stoneless variety that can be eaten whole, skin and all.
It means that ‘avocado hand’ – caused when trying to cut open and de stone the fruit with a knife – may be a thing of the past.
The snackable ‘cocktail’ avocado is a small, elongated version, approximately 2in-3in long, and is the result of an unpollinated avocado blossom.
The fruit develops without a seed, which in turn stops the growth, giving a small, seedless variety which can be eaten raw or even deep-fried.
Unlike a normal avocado, the skin of the cocktail version is edible and the whole fruit can be eaten. The flesh is smooth and creamy, pale in colour and rich in flavour.
They are grown in Spain and only available during December, when usually the crop is sent to a Parisian food market and bought by chefs to be used in top end restaurants.
It is a long way from when M&S first introduced the fruit to the UK in 1968 as an ‘avocado pear’. Some confused buyers, unsure how to eat them, would serve them as a dessert with custard.
Now, thanks to the fruit becoming trendy among millennials, you can buy supersize and mini versions, a cold avocado soup and even an ice cream.
M&S agronomist Charlotte Curtis said: ‘We’ve had the mini, the giant, ready-sliced and we’re now launching the holy grail of avocados – stoneless.
‘This amazing fruit has been on our radar for a couple of years and we’re very excited to get hold of some.’
The packs, which contain four or five and weigh 2 0g, will be available in selected stores at £2 each.