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How Do I Ripen Kiwifruit?

  • Did You Know
  • How To's

Before you can enjoy kiwifruit, however, it’s got to be ripe. Here are our tips.

How do you know when a kiwi is ripe?

Generally speaking, store-bought Zespri™ SunGold™Kiwifruit should be ripe and ready to eat when you purchase it. You can check if your kiwifruit is ripe in the same way you would peaches or avocados:

Hold the kiwi in the palm of your hand.
Gently press the fruit.
If it gives a little, it is ripe, ready, and at its best.

“Ripe” can mean different things to different people. A store-bought kiwifruit might be perfectly ripe for one person, but not quite ready for someone else. Fortunately, Zespri Kiwifruit’s versatility means you can easily control the ripening process.

Speed Up the Process

If you bought Zespri Kiwifruit that is too firm, simply leave the fruit in a bowl at room temperature and nature will do the rest. Firm kiwifruit can take 2-3 days to ripen.

Need the ripen kiwifruit a bit faster? Place the kiwi in a paper bag alongside other fruit to help speed up the process. Other fruits, like apples, oranges, bananas or pears.

Zespri™ SunGold™Kiwifruit gets softer — and sweeter — as it ripens. But be careful not to leave them out at room temperature for too long.

Keep Your Kiwifruit Longer

If you want to keep your kiwifruit longer, you can easily slow down the ripening process by storing the kiwifruit in the refrigerator — just don’t forget to keep them away from other fruits. Other fruits, like apples, oranges, bananas and pears, give off ethylene, which speeds up the ripening process of kiwifruit.

If you buy Zespri Kiwifruit in large quantities — and why wouldn’t you! — choose fruit that is firmer to the touch and keep them in the refrigerator.

Storing Kiwifruit

You can keep your Zespri™ SunGold™Kiwifruit for about two weeks by storing them in the fridge.

If your kiwifruit gets too ripe before you can eat them, or if you want to keep them for longer, you can pop them in the freezer until you’re ready to make delicious smoothies. Freezing your kiwifruit means you’ll always have kiwifruit on hand when you need one.

No matter how you like your kiwifruit — be it a bit firm or super tender — it’s all about the taste. Zespri™ SunGold™ Kiwifruit have plenty of great taste to share :)