Kiwifruit

Get to know it

Cut a fuzzy brown kiwifruit in half and you find green flesh with rows of tiny black seeds. The bite is juicy and tangy-sweet, becoming sweeter as the fruit softens. Gold SunGold kiwifruit has smooth skin and a sweeter, tropical flavour.

What it is

Hayward, the familiar green variety, is an oval fruit about 5–8 cm (2–3 in) long. Its soft green flesh has no hard core and holds rows of edible black seeds. SunGold has yellow flesh, a smaller core and fewer seeds beneath its smooth golden-brown skin.

Kiwiberries are smaller relatives, about grape size, with smooth skin. A full-sized kiwi’s skin is edible too: rinse it and eat the whole fruit, or halve it and scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Gentle give under light pressure signals that it is ready.

Where it comes from

Kiwifruit comes from China. Isabel Fraser brought seeds to New Zealand in 1904, and the vines there became the starting point for a commercial crop. In 1959, the New Zealand exporter Turners & Growers gave it the name kiwifruit.

China remains the biggest grower: in 2023 it produced 55% of the world’s 4.4 million tonnes.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Lazio, Italy, insalata di kiwi e gorgonzola combines pieces of local Kiwi Latina with mild Gorgonzola, walnuts and lamb’s lettuce. Olive oil and lemon juice dress the salad. The fruit’s tang joins blue cheese and nuts in a savoury dish.

At Kiwifruit Country, an orchard in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty, kiwifruit goes into house-made relish, chutney and jam, and into real-fruit ice cream. Its tasting room puts fresh green, gold and red kiwifruit alongside the preserves, giving three colours of the fruit a place on the same table.

How it's grown

Kiwifruit grows on woody climbing vines that need strong supports. In Lazio, growers train them over pergolas. Most vines are either male or female: the males provide pollen, which bees and other pollinators carry to flowers on the fruiting females.

Fuzzy kiwifruit needs a long growing season, more than 200 days. Vines thrive in sun with steady moisture and well-drained soil. Wind can break their young shoots, so sheltered sites and tall orchard hedges help protect them.

When and where you'll find it

New Zealand’s main picking season usually runs from March through June. Kiwi Latina’s Hayward crop comes off the vine in late October and early November, during Italy’s autumn. These are harvest windows on opposite sides of the equator.

Fresh green and gold kiwifruit are supermarket fruits, and red varieties join them. Firm fruit softens at room temperature; a bag with an apple or banana speeds it along. Ripe fruit belongs in the fridge.

Sources · 7

Get it near Detroit

What it tastes like

As soft as a blueberry, tarter than a plum≈

Not sweetlemonbananaSweet

MildbananalemonSour

SoftpearappleCrisp

More about the taste

Firm green kiwifruit is sour; it gets sweeter as it softens. The best cue for eating is a gentle yield to light pressure, before the flesh turns mushy.

Flavor varies considerably among kiwifruit species and varieties. Very soft, vine-ripe kiwiberries can have an intense flavor that some people enjoy and others find overripe.

Green kiwifruit is too sour when very firm, and gets sweeter as it softens.

A tasting invitation

Taste a firmer and a softer piece, noticing acidity and sweetness alongside texture. Compare green and gold types too, but judge by the fruit's actual condition rather than by color or brand alone.

Choose, ripen, store, eat

1ChooseGentle give
Look for
Gentle give
Unblemished fruit
Sound skin
Choose unblemished fruit without bruised soft spots or wrinkled skin. For eating now, look for a gentle give rather than rock-hard fruit. New Zealand Hayward kiwifruit is harvested late March to early June, and Italian Kiwi Latina late October to early November, opposite hemispheres and opposite times of year. Gentle give and sound skin show readiness, whatever the origin.
2RipenOn the counter
Ripens after pickingCounterPaper bag with apple or banana
Ripen firm kiwifruit at room temperature, out of direct sun. Put it in a bag with an apple or banana to speed things up, and check it regularly rather than counting on a fixed number of days.
3StoreFridge, ripe
1. FridgeRipe
Refrigerate ripe kiwifruit. Keep firm fruit away from apples and bananas if you want to slow its progress toward softness.
4EatFlesh, Skin
Eat
FleshSkin
Cut in half and scoop the flesh, or rinse and eat the skin too -- the fine hairs on green kiwifruit can be brushed off first.

More tips

A useful detail Kiwifruit is especially responsive to ethylene, so what it's stored near matters: exposure to ethylene-producing fruit speeds ripening, while keeping it apart helps it stay firm.

Worth knowing

A kiwi that softens later still carries the effects of when it was picked — firmness alone doesn't tell you how sweet it will eventually be.
A high dry-matter reading is useful context for a kiwi, but its acid balance still decides whether the ripe flavor appeals to you.
A kiwi's dry matter predicts flavor potential, not harvest maturity, shelf life or internal breakdown.

Detroit, Michigan

When it’s good here

Grown here

Ships from other statesSep–May

Orderable$33.99Checked Oct 19Organic Red Kiwi · 2lbs · Frog Hollow Farm$33.99

48 growing areas, 14 countries

Araucanía
Bay of Plenty
British Columbia
Cáceres
California
Coquimbo
Espírito Santo
Florida
Hawaii
Huelva
Jammu and Kashmir
Jeju +1
Latina
New South Wales
Shaanxi
South Africa
Yunnan
You

Grows hereIn season nowOther monthsYou

7 of 17 areas · October

421

Growing areas by country

United States13
Spain6
New Zealand6
Australia5
Chile5
France3
China2
South Korea2

and 9 more countriesand 6 more countries

The name kiwifruit was adopted by exporter Turners and Growers in June 1959. New Zealand's original planting material traces back to seeds Mary Isabel Fraser brought from China in 1904.
China / New Zealand

57 varieties

See all 57 varieties

14 names in 9 languages

Cook it

How to serve it first

Cut the fruit across the middle and scoop out the flesh with a spoon, or slice it. Add it to yogurt just before eating so the pieces keep their texture.

Recipes 3

2 kiwifruit festivals

Fiesta Regional del KiwiMayGeneral Madariaga (Paraje Macedo), Buenos Aires, ArgentinaMay

Fiesta del Kiwi Mar y SierrasJulMiramar, Buenos Aires (General Alvarado), ArgentinaJul

Festivals this month →

Strange but true

If you like Kiwifruit

Tastes alike

Close relatives

Kiwiberry≈sweeter

Nutrition, sources

Nutrition

Kiwifruit, green, raw · per 100 g

Energy61kcal · 255 kJ

Carbohydrate: 15 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sugars: 9 g
Protein: 1.1 g
Fat: 0.5 g
Vitamin C: 93 mg
Potassium: 312 mg

Sources

Kiwifruit · Fruitopia · checked Sep 23, 2026

What we don't know yet

Gold kiwifruit is often sold ready to eat, unlike firmer green kiwifruit.