Avocados are one of my favourite fruits. Mashed with a little olive oil, a few chilli flakes and some seasoning and served on toast, they certainly rival scrambled eggs for me.

Although we eat avocado as a vegetable, my local shop is correct in listing it on the till under ‘fruit’ (even though that confuses some of the volunteer staff trying to put it through the system). A single avocado is in fact botanically a berry.

Avocados, now ubiquitous in the UK, were not part of my childhood fare. Apparently Marks and Spencer first sold ‘avocado pears’ in 1968, but they were not a success. My initial memory of avocados is of seeing them served solely as a starter – half an avocado (often unripe) with mayonnaise or oil in the depression left by the stone. 

Move on a few decades and avocados are now part of many people’s regular diets, are regarded as a superfood, and are even used as an ingredient in vegan cakes.

For all that I eat lots of avocados, I hadn’t really studied them until I came to do this drawing. There are actually patterns in the bumps on the skin. Some of the bumps are quite raised, while other patches of the skin are smoother.

Next time you pick up an avocado, turn it in the light and enjoy the patterns and texture of the skin for a moment before you pick up the knife.