Eating the Skin of Kiwi is Good for You
The brown and hairy exterior of this egg-shaped fruit doesn't look promising, but inside it's a different story - sweet, yielding, bright green flesh, beautifully dotted with black seeds that crunch pleasantly with every bite. The flavor of kiwi is distinctive but hard to pin down - some say it's like strawberry, others say pineapple.
In traditional American restaurants, the brown skin is peeled away before eating the fruit, but this is a huge mistake! Unless you need to preserve the bright green color for your dish (for example, in a kiwi sorbet, smoothie, or cocktail), you should absolutely eat the skin. It’s not only delicious, but it contains a ton of fiber and minerals. Very high in vitamin C, kiwi fruit is far better eaten raw - cooking it destroys the vitamin content and the green color.
So keep your kiwis raw! Throw them into both sweet and savory salads, pair them with chilies in tropical salsa, and use them to garnish glistening fruit tarts. Also, the enzymes in kiwis contain make them an awesome natural tenderizer for meat, so consider throwing processed kiwi fruit into your summer marinades this barbecue season!
About the Chef
Stephanie Goldfarb is a Chicago-based chef and national food television personality specializing in seasonal, globally-inspired cuisine. Recognized as the winner of Food Network’s America’s Best Cook competition, and a celebrity chef on Kitchen Inferno and NBC’s Food Fighters, Goldfarb delivers unique and relatable culinary experiences to discriminating and casual diners alike. As the owner of the successful Seven Species Supper Club & Catering, she enjoys the challenge of building brand new menus each month that inspire both repeat clients and newcomers, and seeks opportunities to utilize new ingredients, techniques, and approaches in accessible ways.