The condition “avocado hand” has been sweeping across kitchens in recent months, with brunch-lovers slicing their fingers while incorrectly cutting avocados. But what is the proper way to cut the world’s most trendy fruit? And is there a quicker way to hack into butternut squash? Read on to find out…

Every wondered why you’re constantly cutting your fingers while trying to prevent a carrot from slipping down the chopping board? Try shaving a flat surface onto the side of the carrot so it has something to rest on. Working with a square block will make the vegetable much easier to cut.

You’d think a round, segmented fruit like grapefruit would be super easy to cut. But, unless you like eating bits of chewy membrane, it’s not. After peeling the fruit, hold it in the palm of your hand and cut downwards in between the membrane that separates the segments. You’ll be left with pretty much all the fruit, and no nasty chewy bits.

It’s easy to want to hack at leafy greens until you have a bunch of tiny pieces, but there’s an easier way to do it. Cut an upside-down V-shape to remove the stalk, roll the greens into a pipe shape, and simply trim horizontally to make small strips.

How do you prevent yourself from becoming a victim of ‘avocado hand’? Simply cut through the center of the avocado, twist the avocado into two halves and tap the stone with your knife to remove it. After this, cut your avocados in half again, peeling off the skin to expose the fruit.

Zucchini is possibly one of the easiest vegetables to cut, but are you really making the most of it? You’re probably used to slicing the zucchini into half or full moons. But why not try shaving it instead? Use a peeler to glide down the vegetable. Add to a salad with a soy and lime dressing for something a little different.

They taste delicious, but only once you’ve finally managed to cut beneath the skin. Save time by slicing a wedge of mango away from the stone, then cut across both horizontally and vertically to form small squares. After this, just push the mango away from the skin.

Everybody loves it, but there’s no denying it is a nightmare to prepare. And the chances are, unless you’ve got a machete, you’re probably doing it all wrong. To make life easier, prod the squash with a fork and pop it in the microwave for a few minutes. Once the squash has cooled, you’ll find it peels in no time and will be substantially easier to slice.

Cutting tomatoes individually takes a lot of time if you’re planning to prepare a whole box. Save time by placing your cherry tomatoes on a plate with the back of another plate pressed on top. Press down gently and gently slice your knife in between. The results? Tomato halves cut in half the time.

Once you know how to cut an onion well, you’re pretty much set. The main tip for cutting an onion is not to chop off both ends. Cut the pantry end away, but make sure you keep the root attached. This will act as a handle for you while you are cutting the rest.

Before you do anything else, make three cuts into the side of your onion, 75% of the way. Once you’ve done this, you’ll already have sliced most of the onion, but cut vertically and horizontally across the top to dice it into smaller pieces.

Crushing cloves of garlic causes them to lose most of their flavor. Instead, cut the root of the garlic away and press the side of your knife against the clove until it’s crushed. The skin will remove itself, so simply peel it off and then chop the remainder into tiny pieces.

Peeling ginger can be a little tough, as the shape is just about awkward as it gets. Avoid tackling it with a knife by taking a teaspoon and simply shaving the ginger using the edge of the spoon. You can watch how here.

They look beautiful, but honestly, where do you even start? Try cutting off the crown and base, followed by the sides. After this, cut off the “eyes” on either end and you’ll be left with a block of pure pineapple, which you can slice into quarters, halves and then chunks.

Remove the seeds easily by scoring the fruit around the middle, pulling apart the two halves, then submerging the two halves in water. Once you’ve pushed the edges down and away, the fruit will gently open. Hit the back of the pomegranate with a spoon and the seeds should just fall out.

Peeling potatoes is a tedious task, and many of us are wasting a lot of potato in the process. Save time (and potato) by allowing them to peel themselves. Use a sharp knife to make a cut through the skin around the center. After this, boil your potatoes as normal, drain and cool and the skin will just fall off in two pieces.

Save the mess and time when shucking corn. Simply cut the root off and push the corn out instead of peeling each layer off. After that, just slide your knife down the side of the corn to shave away the pieces.

Have you ever thought about using something other than a knife to cut your vegetables? Save time by using a pizza cutter to slice your celery sticks into pieces. Just lay the sticks flat on a chopping board and roll the blade along to form slices. Just be aware of where your fingers are so you don’t accidentally cut them.

Cauliflower is on trend now that people have realized what a great substitute it can be for carbs. But cutting it up into little florets can take a while. Save some time by placing the cauliflower head in a clean bag with the stem facing up. Tie the bag and bang it down on the counter. In a few seconds the florets will have naturally fallen off and be ready to cook with. Genius!

There’s no right or wrong way to cut a pepper, but it does make salad-prep a lot easier when you know how to do it quickly. Place your pepper on the chopping board and slice the side of it, before spinning the pepper and following the knife around the outside, to create one long strip. After this, you can cut the pepper into any shape you like.

The texture of the furry skin surrounding a peach is an acquired taste. If you want a quick and easy way to remove it, all you need to do is cut an ‘X’ at the top of the fruit and then blanche it in boiling water. Like potatoes, the skin will naturally fall off.

Everything you knew about slicing apples is just about to become irrelevant. The most efficient way to slice an apple is simply to make cuts down the apple both vertically and horizontally until you have a grid shape. Once you’ve made the cuts, tie an elastic band around the center of the apple. This will hold the slices together until you’re ready to eat them. Watch a video on how to do this here.

There are hundreds of types of mushrooms, all in different shapes and sizes, but the most common is the tiny little button variety. While mushrooms are typically very easy to slice, you can save time and fingers simply by placing them in an egg slicer.

If you’re handling the slightly larger fungi, make sure you prepare it properly first. Start by cutting away the stalk and scraping the gills away with a spoon. For neat, thin slithers, cut away the curled edge of the round surface so you’re left with a flat top you can neatly slice into long strips, or dice into smaller pieces.

If you’ve been using a knife to peel your kiwi fruit up until now, you’ve been doing it all wrong. Once you’ve cut the ends off the fruit, just gently place a teaspoon in between the skin and the fruit and glide it around until you’re left with just the flesh. The skin should just pull away.

If you want a quick way to prepare your asparagus without wasting anything unnecessarily, just snap one stalk to find the root, and cut the rest to the same size. Easy peasy.