ALL ABOUT KIWI SEEDS
-
Did You Know
-
Health & Lifestyle
Zespri Kiwifruit are known for being as delicious as they are healthy. Full of vitality and life, just 1 kiwifruit fulfils 100% of your daily vitamin C needs.
But what about kiwi seeds?
Do the nutritional benefits of kiwifruit run so deep that even their seeds have value?
They certainly do.
Are Kiwi Seeds Good For You?
Anything that produces something as wonderful and healthful as kiwifruit must be good for you, right?
Granted, eating just kiwi seeds won’t have the exact same amount of vitality as eating an entire kiwifruit. But these little black seeds that you see in kiwifruit are edible and filled with a number of essential nutrients — even if just in nominal amounts.
Omega-3 Fats.Kiwi seeds provide a small amount of omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fats are the so-called “good fats” that are important for brain and heart health.
Protein and Antioxidants. Kiwi seeds also contain a small amount of protein, important for good health. You’ll also get some antioxidants, mostly in the form of vitamin E. But again, this is a small — though not entirely negligible — amount.
So is there any substantial benefit that eating kiwi seeds provides?
Nutritional Benefit to Eating Kiwi Seeds
While it’s true that eating seeds doesn’t have quite that same nutritional Wow!-factor as eating a whole kiwifruit, there is still some benefit.
When you eat kiwifruit, the seeds usually pass through you undigested. This can help move things along the digestive tract. When eating, kiwi seeds also help digest protein, with the help of the actinidin enzyme found in kiwifruit. Moreover, actinidin prevents that bloated feeling some might get after eating.
Can I Grow Kiwifruit from Store-Bought Kiwi Seeds?
Short answer: Yes, you can.
But growing kiwi from seeds requires a lot of rainfall, plenty of fertile soil — and a fair bit of patience.
Kiwifruit takes anywhere from three to five years to fully cultivate. So it’ll be quite some time before you can pull down a fresh kiwifruit from your kiwi tree and take that first bite. And just because you use the seeds from Zespri Kiwifruit, doesn’t mean your fruit will have the same flavorful impact as a Zespri Kiwifruit.
We talk about the long kiwi growing process in “Where Are Kiwifruit Grown?"
The growing season for kiwifruit is long — up to 240 days a year.
Because kiwifruit only grows in ideal conditions, Zespri Kiwifruit is grown in carefully selected orchards. The entire process can take up to five years of intensive care before the plants can produce enough fruit to harvest.
Through our commitment to providing superior quality and best tasting kiwifruit, we’ve developed our own comprehensive set of quality standards. We call it the Zespri System, and it’s the foundation of the Zespri brand. And it helps us deliver the world’s best tasting kiwifruit to consumers worldwide.
We’ve perfected this painstaking process over decades of research, trial and error and rigorous testing. The Zespri System is carried out at every stage of the production process: from cultivation and orchard management, to storage and transport. Every Zespri grower follows the procedures outlined in the Zespri System, which is how we can guarantee our kiwifruit are full of wonderful flavor and nutritious vitality.
Part of the Zespri System emphasizes regular communication with all of our kiwifruit growers. This includes deep collaborations and research. Our growers are all part of our family and we take pride in the contributions of every one of our growers, who have in turn committed to the Zespri System.
There’s no doubt that kiwi fruit health benefits are plenty. From delivering energy to get you through the day to helping with gut health And the kiwi nutritional benefits run deep.
How deep?
Down to every seed!
You won’t get the same nutritional boost from eating a handful of kiwi seeds as you would the entire kiwifruit, but it’s good to know where that healthful vitality comes from!
