The avocado harvest is under way and this season there should be heaps of the fruit. It could be time to get adventurous.

Fancy avocado cheesecake or avocado chocolate mousse?

This could be the year to get experimental with the pear-shaped berry, as a bumper crop brings prices back down to Earth after the shortage-induced highs of recent months.

Harvesting of the new crop started early in July and on Thursday the Countdown website had avocados at $2.29 for one, or $4 for two. The New World Willis St Metro in downtown Wellington was charging $2.49 for a good-sized avocado, or $4 for two.

That's a far cry from the June prices, which Statistics NZ put at the highest-ever average of $4.61 for a 200g fruit.

READ MORE:

* Sky high avocado prices drive black market

* Avocados are back - four of our favourite ways to use them

* 5 unusual superfoods that athletes eat

Still, the potential for rising demand could stop the price floor dropping too low, given avocados apparent status as the latest wonder food.

Instagram Miley Cyrus models another popular way of making use of an avocado.

A quick Google search, and including only comparatively reputable sources of information, suggest avocados are good for fighting infection, may help prevent cancer, help control blood pressure, are good for eyes and hearts, and high in folate, which is important for cell growth. While avocados are high in fat, it's apparently a good kind of fat.

Industry body New Zealand Avocado is expecting the 2016/17 season to be the biggest yet, predicting a record crop of 7.6 million 5.5kg trays.

Just under 2m of those trays, or 40m avocados, will be sold in this country, chief executive Jen Scoular said.

That was similar to the just over 1.8m trays sold in New Zealand in the 2014/15 season, but well up on the "very low crop" of 1.2m trays last season.

"This up down crop cycle is caused by irregular bearing – an inherent characteristic of the avocado tree which the industry globally is trying to mitigate through orchard management techniques," Scoular said.

She didn't put figures on what prices were likely to be but expected "consumers will love the ready availability of avocados in the coming season".

The industry was expecting to export more than 5.1m trays, or more than 100m avocados, this season. It looks like future harvests could be even larger.

"We are seeing significant investment into avocado production, with a two year waiting list now for avocado trees," Scoular said. "It is a great time for this NZ horticulture industry – with increasing demand and an ability in NZ to significantly increase supply."

Fortunately demand is also rising, with global consumption increasing by 3 per cent a year.

123rf Good for you and more fun than a vegetable.

So what to do with all that produce?

First thing - eat it when it's ripe.

"Avocados mature on the tree but don't ripen until they are harvested," Scoular said.

"Consumers will be offered mature avocados that may need to ripen for a day or two. The colour will tell you whether it is ripe.

"Avocados are then best kept in your fruit bowl to ripen, which is when the skin colour has changed to purple-brown." she said.

"Avocados on toast has been named New Yorkers' favourite breakfast, avocados have been named the Oprah of Instagram and the most pinned fruit on Pinterest.

"Sharing photos of amazing looking food that is also healthy is a huge trend that definitely helps inspire consumers to try avocados."

Great new recipes for avocados were appearing in baking and in desserts, she said. Those recipes included the already mentioned avocado cheesecake and avocado chocolate mousse.

Then again, why not just keep trying to create the perfect guacamole?

Your family and friends will love you for it, but in the interests of their health try to eat it with raw carrot sticks instead of corn chips.

Haha, just joking.