Simple Avocado Salad Flower Design

The avocado craze! This small fruit has become increasingly popular over the past few years as people all over the US try to incorporate it into different recipes. Sometimes though, we forget how good this fruit tastes on its own.

An avocado salad is a great side to any dish and at least in my Cuban family, is used as an accompaniment to almost every meal. This simple recipe will show how to make your next avocado salad a bit more aesthetically pleasing :)

These steps are all easy and don't require any fancy equipment or special knives. You will soon be making beautiful avocado flowers at home!

In this instructable I am going to share the step-by-step process as well as tips and tricks to create a beautiful avocado flower salad that both you and your guests will love!

Tools:

• cutting board
• knife (I like to use a serrated knife but feel free to use whatever you feel comfortable with)

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe Hass Avocado

This recipe makes 2 avocado flowers. Make sure you are using a Hass avocado because it is the only type that will work. If the fruit is not ripe enough, you will not be able to create the flower. You can tell if the avocado is ripe by looking to see if it has a dark green purplish color and touching it to make sure it is soft but not mushy/squishy.

Starting from the top stem of the avocado begin to cut downwards vertically and around the avocado till you reach the stem again. An easier way to do this is to put the knife into the stem and then twisting the avocado around with one hand so that the knife makes a symmetrical cut that goes all the way around the fruit. This step is like completing one full orbital around the entire avocado so that it can separate into two vertical halves.

To separate the avocado place one hand on one half of the incision and one hand on the other and twist. The avocado halves will slide apart so that you now have two pieces.

Many often get stuck when trying to take the seed out of the avocado since it does not always immediately pop out. Sometimes you are lucky enough and you can pull the seed out with your fingers or a napkin so that it is not as slippery. Other times though it is easier to use a knife. Below are the two main steps when using the knife to remove the seed.

• Start by wedging the knife deep into the seed.
• Then twist sideways so that the seed turns and pops out.

Tip:

If the seed is not coming out by twisting the knife, use the knife to cut around the perimeter of the seed. The depth of the cut should only be about where the seed ends and should not go through the full avocado. This should make twisting the seed out with the knife a bit easier.

Peel the skin off the avocado gently using the palms of your fingers. Try to use the joints of your fingers more than your nails so that you gain more strength and do not peel of any extra avocado. If the avocado is perfectly ripe the skin should come off easily.

Tip:

If you are having trouble taking off the skin feel free to use a knife and carefully cut the skin off while trying to not remove any extra avocado.

Place the avocado face down on the cutting board so that the darker green smooth side is facing up. Begin to cut about ¼ of an inch thick vertical slices of the avocado. Make sure to cut straight through the avocado and leave the slices so that when you finish the avocado shape is the same.

Slowly separate each slice from the avocado by sliding them vertically so that each piece still touches at their ends and when you are done, form a straight line. This step is delicate because you want to make sure each slice is separated and does not break.

Roll up the straight line starting from one end making sure that each piece touches each other smoothly. This is where the ripeness of the avocado comes into play. If the avocado is not ripe enough and is too hard, this part will not work because the avocado will not bend or curve to form the flower. As you get further into rolling the slices, you will see the flower shape begin to form.

Plate the avocado flower and serve alone or with your favorite meal. I usually add salt and olive oil to it but feel free to add whatever you like!