'Safer avocado' invented to keep people from stabbing selves

British supermarket chain Marks and Spencer's new pitless avocado can be eaten whole, skin and all. It's also a breeze to slice. British supermarket chain Marks and Spencer's new pitless avocado can be eaten whole, skin and all. It's also a breeze to slice. Photo: Marks And Spencer Photo: Marks And Spencer Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close 'Safer avocado' invented to keep people from stabbing selves 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The more popular avocado toast grows, the more likely people are to maim themselves cutting up avocados.

Earlier this year, the UK medical community began referring to the laceration of one's hand while enthusiastically cutting the fruit as "avocado hand." Tendons and nerves were being severed with such frequency, the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons warned people about the safety risk, and one doctor even suggested avocados carry safety labels.

But a British supermarket chain thinks it may have a solution to produce-induced self-mutilation. Marks and Spencer has devised the safer avocado — one with no stone.

A blade slicing through the soft flesh of a regular avocado can easily slip when it hits the slimy pit and ricochet toward thumbs and fingers. If you are holding the fruit in your palm at the same time, a horror movie sequence can ensue.

So the UK chain launched a new "cocktail avocado" with no pit and tender skin, allowing the fruit to be eaten skin and all.

If you balk at eating avocado skin on general principle, you can open one end of the avocado and squeeze out the pulpy flesh like toothpaste from the bottom of the tube. Instant guacamole!

The cocktail avocados are the result of an unpollinated avocado blossom. They are smaller than regular avocados — about 5 to 8 centimeters. But the taste is smooth and creamy, just as good as their pit-laden brethren.

Unfortunately, the pit-less avocados are available only across the pond and for a price that may keep you carving up the pit variety despite the risks: £2 ($2.70) per avocado.

That's a lot for a bowl of guac.