Even though kiwi or gooseberry grows wild in China, people know this fruit as soon as they hear the name “kiwi.” Although this fruit is not named as a super fruit, it comes with many essential nutrients, including vitamins. Because of that, kiwi is one of the common fruits that is available in the market worldwide.

But do you actually know how to pick good kiwi fruit? It is the main trouble when you go to the market, isn’t it? Yes, if we do not know how to pick good kiwi, sellers can cheat us. Result it will cause us to lose our money as well as our preference for kiwi. So, this is the time to know how to pick good Kiwi fruit.

It is pretty difficult to identify at first glance whether the kiwi is ripe or not because of its woody appearance. But it is not difficult as you think. Believe me, because the below easy methods made my work easier.

METHOD 1: HOW TO PICK A GOOD RIPE KIWI FRUIT

STEP 1 – CHECK THE OUTER SKIN OF THE KIWI FRUIT

The first and simple thing is inspecting the outer skin of the kiwi. Generally, when kiwi is ripe, its outer skin becomes brown. Also, ripe kiwi fruit skin is fuzzy or has hairy on the surface and skin underneath. At the same time, it is wise to check out for any dark spots, mold, bruises, or wrinkles.

However, if you notice that the kiwi is shriveled, bruised, or has mold, do not pick it. Because it is not suitable for eating, I bet it is overripe.

STEP 2: SQUEEZE THE KIWI FRUIT SLIGHTLY

Here, you have to keep the kiwi between the thumb and four fingers. Then apply light pressure on the fruit using your thumb. If your thumb slightly goes into the kiwi, it rips well. It should be soft but not feel too soft.

However, if the kiwi is overripe or mushy, it gives too much when you pressure it.

STEP 3: FEEL THE SMELL

Take the kiwi and smell it. If the fruit on your hand is ripe, it has a citrus smell; it can be identified as perfectly ripe kiwi fruit.

On the other hand, if your kiwi fruit has a pungent, sweet smell, it is overripe.

So, here we can conclude that if you want ripe kiwi fruit, it should slightly give when you put pressure on the kiwi fruit that has brown fuzzy outer skin. Also, it should give off a citrus smell. If your kiwi fruit is qualified for these criteria, you can pick it to bring home.

METHOD 2: HOW TO PICK AN UNRIPE KIWI

Step 1: Check the outer skin of the kiwi fruit.

If you want to unripe kiwi fruit, you should pick kiwi with a  greener hue. Also, you cannot find hairy on the outer skin of unripe kiwi as a ripe one.

Similarly, check out that there are dark spots or bruises on the skin because it is time-wasting to ripen damaged kiwi fruits.

STEP 2: SQUEEZE THE KIWI FRUIT

Keep the kiwi fruit between your thumb and four fingers, and then squeeze it lightly. If kiwi is firm, it can be identified as unripe fruit. So, you can bring it your home to ripe.

STEP 3: RIPEN THE PICKED KIWIS AT HOME

It is better to keep your kiwi fruit in a paper bag until ripe. It is also an advantage if you take kiwi with other fruits like banana, apple, and pears because it will speed up the process.

On the other hand, what is the temperature level you have to keep this fruit ripe?

It is important to factor. It is no doubt that you can keep your kiwi at room temperature because it needs room temperature to be ripe. Therefore, do not try to do experiments. Also, do not let them expose to direct sunlight.

Kiwi takes about 3 to 5 days to rip. Because of that, give them time before checking to see if the fruit is ripe.

However, if you want to slow down the ripening process of the kiwi, you can store them on the refrigerator. It can be kept for around 3 weeks.

HOW TO IDENTIFY IF THE KIWI FRUIT IS RIPE AFTER CUTTING

Now you know how to pick a good kiwi fruit. It means now you have the ability to choose ripe kiwi or unripe kiwi correctly.

But I have a question mark in my mind, the nature of the inside of the ripe kiwi fruit. How will it be? So if you choose a ripe kiwi, but you are not quite sure, let’s cut it and inspect the flesh.

INSPECT THE INSIDE OF THE RIPE KIWI FRUIT

Generally, the kiwi fruit has many seeds, and when it ripens, all these seeds become black. Plus, ripe kiwi has bright green color flesh if you choose a green kiwi. But if you choose a golden kiwi, when it ripens, the flesh becomes yellow color.

However, if your kiwi is unripe, the seeds are green or yellow in color. Similarly, the flesh does not have bright color.

FEEL THE TASTE

This is the real way to identify whether your kiwi is ripe or not. So, after cleaning the fruit, you can remove the thin skin with a knife, a peeler, or scrape it off with a spoon. After that, cut it into small pieces. Then taste it.

If your kiwi is ripe, definitely the flesh is soft and squishy. Also, your tongue may feel a sweet flavor from the flesh.

On the other hand, unripe kiwi does not have a sweet flavor, and the flesh will be firm. Most probably, the unripe kiwi fruit comes with a very sour taste.

HOW TO SPEED UP THE RIPENING PROCESS OF THE KIWI FRUIT

As I mentioned above, you can ripen kiwi at room temperature. But it takes some time. So, if you need to speed up the ripening process, you can keep your kiwis with ripe other fruits in the same plastic bag or paper bag. Here you can get some ripe bananas, apples, and pears.

So, how does this method speed up the ripening process of the kiwi fruit? It is simple. Generally, ripe fruits are rich in ethylene. If I explain this deeply, ethylene is a natural emitted gas that has the ability to hasten the ripening process. So, this affects the ripening of kiwi fruits.