The competition inspired chefs to ‘smash and grill’ their avocados to create a dish where the avocado was the star ingredient.

Winning chefs Tom Aikens (Muse) and Sanjay Dwivedi (COYA) created recipes that celebrated avocado’s versatility. The prize for the winning dish was a pallet of avocados donated to a NHS Charities Trust in the chefs name.

Dwivedi created an avocado mousse with coconut, passion fruit sorbet and rice crackers while Aikens reinvented a classic with his avocado cannelloni.

So far in 2020 Europe has consumed 700m kilos of avocados, which is around 100m kilos more than the previous year. Avocados are popular in the UK, with over 6,000 sold every hour.

Xavier Equihua, chief executive of WAO, commented: “During the pandemic, many people have started to pay more attention to their diets and are turning to foods that will strengthen their immune systems.

“The avocado, along with a balanced diet and an active lifestyle, is our body’s best friend, ideally matched to new consumer habits and needs in 2020.”