Have you ever tried a kiwifruit?  Do you know the health benefits of the kiwifruit?  Hang tight, you will! Aside from being naturally gluten-free, the kiwifruit has a lot to offer.

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Kiwi are in season November – May = now.  This works out perfectly for me because I have been short on fruit to put in my morning fruit bowl.  I have been spoiled with all of the summer fruits – melon (though I was avoiding that pesky salmonella-contaminated cantaloupe), berries, peaches, plums & cherries.  I have really felt like something was lacking from my bowl.  I have been including plenty of Honeycrisp apples and pears, but wanted to add something else.  I picked up some kiwi the other day and the one I had today was delicious!  I forgot how much I really like them! 

The kiwifruit is actually a Chinese gooseberry.  The most common variety has a brown, fuzzy-like skin, though there is a gold variety, too.  I peel my kiwifruit before eating, but I know of some that don’t.  I just can’t get past that texture.  Here is some more info about the kiwifruit:

What is kiwifruit?

Many people mistakenly believe kiwifruit is simply a hybrid of other fresh fruits — perhaps a combination of strawberries and melons, or bananas and mangoes. Nope, kiwifruit is actually and entirely unique fruit, born in China and cultivated today in the USA, New Zealand, Europe, Chile and dozens of others countries. There are over forty known varieties of kiwifruit, although the most widely grown and marketed around the world is the Hayward.

Can someone be allergic to kiwifruit?

There are rare cases of kiwifruit causing an allergic reaction, but there’s no reason to believe that a person’s allergic reaction to kiwifruit is any different from their allergic reaction to any other food product.

Could such an allergic reaction be caused by chemicals used on California Kiwifruit? Not likely; in fact, it’s extremely unlikely. California has the world’s tightest restrictions on the use of agricultural chemicals, and the state’s kiwifruit farmers operate in strict accordance with all regulations. Plus, most of California’s kiwifruit is, for all intents and purposes, organically grown, with no chemicals sprayed directly on the fruit under normal growing conditions.

Can you eat the skin of a kiwifruit?

Absolutely! The kiwifruit skin is completely edible and makes this nutrient-dense fruit even more nutritious! A recent study shows that eating the skin triples the fiber intake compared to merely eating the flesh. And by not peeling the skin, you preserve much of the vitamin C content as well.

People all over the world have been eating the skin for centuries with no complaints. And many find that leaving the skin on their sliced kiwifruit makes it much easier for snacking, as the skin holds each slice together.

Just like any fresh fruit or vegetable, we suggest that you wash the skin before eating since it is unknown who or what touched it before you did. So enjoy your kiwifruit, skin and all!