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Is there a way to loosen the skin from the flesh before peeling a kiwifruit with a paring knife or peeler? I'm not a deft hand with a paring knife, and I suspect that it's time to buy a peeler with a sharper blade, but any tips on peeling technique with regard to kiwifruit would be welcome.

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    I always eat the skin :)
    – Josh Stodola
    Jul 19, 2010 at 14:41

9 Answers 9

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I use a potato peeler to peel it. I cut off the top then peel down in strips. with a good peeler you can save most of the flesh this way. I use a 'Y' style peeler.

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    + 1 Cutting the top off so the blade of the peeler will catch the skin and not the flesh is an excellent idea.
    – Iuls
    Jul 19, 2010 at 13:33
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I normally cut the fruit in half then use a grapefruit spoon (serrated tip) to scoop the fruit out of the flesh.

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  • +1 that's good for eating it, but less so if you want dices for in a fruit salad
    – Ruben Steins
    Jul 19, 2010 at 13:19
  • +1 I never thought of eating it that way, but I am making fruit salad and would like to peel it so that it looks nice when cut.
    – Iuls
    Jul 19, 2010 at 13:21
  • +1, but you need tu cut of the two sides, certainly the one with the attachment. and then with a normal spoon it should be clean, unless they are not ripe yet.
    – HeDinges
    Jul 19, 2010 at 13:41
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    @Ruben Steins: the way I do it I end up with two halves of fruit, intact, which could certainly be diced; I don't scoop out a mouthful at a time.
    – Vicky
    Jul 19, 2010 at 14:02
  • @HeDinges: I'm not sure what you mean by "cutting off the two sides" or "the attachment"? I'm talking about using this kind of spoon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit_spoon
    – Vicky
    Jul 19, 2010 at 14:04
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I find it easier to peel when it's already sliced

EDIT .. and will make for excellent garnish.

but usually when i'm using kiwi in a presentation, I use a small pairing knife and ribbon around the kiwi

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  • +1 once it's sliced, you can easily cut the skin and then grab it against the edge of the blade and peel right off.
    – GalacticCowboy
    Jul 19, 2010 at 20:50
  • Brilliant! I came here looking for kiwi skinning techniques too (just for snacking) and this answer is my favorite. I found good success slicing first then holding the knife vertically against the board and rotating the slice around.
    – Jason C
    Oct 28, 2014 at 1:51
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I know a way that is amazing. You just cut off the 2 ends like regular and use a regular spoon to wedge between the skin and the meat of the fruit. Work your way around and then you can just "plop" the meat of the fruit out. I'm not going to take credit for somebody else's work so here is the link with the video. How to cut and peel a kiwi fruit.

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I chop the two ends so you have a kiwi cylinder and then lay the kiwi on it's side and make a small slice into it and keep the knife parallel to the cutting board as close to the bottom and just let it roll until it goes a full 360 degrees and the skin is off.

Then you can cut as desired.

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I'm having trouble finding one online, but there is a serrated blade that is curved sideways used for cutting pineapple. Because it curves sideways, it can cut more skin off and less meat off a round piece of fruit than a knife with a straight blade.

It's very similar to this: http://www.bbqproshop.com/melon-and-fruit-knife.html

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Has anyone tried using a melon baller? If you follow the tip about cutting it in half and then using the melon baller, I would think you could get quite a bit out easily. (Note, I have not actually tried this...)

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They sell peelers that are specifically for soft fruits and veg - peaches, tomatoes, and kiwis generally feature on the packaging. My chef-daughter has one and reports they do a nice job. Among other things they are wicked sharp and if you use one on a potato you will probably cut yourself.

That said, I cut the ends off so my ordinary peeler can "get started" under the kiwi skin and have no trouble peeling them that way. I'm not a big uni-tasker fan.

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Using a peeler or a spoon around the skin is fine for a truly fresh Kiwifruit straight from the vine

Most people purchase Kiwifruit that has been stored and shipped long distances in special chillers, and are then chemically ripened before final point of sale. These Kiwifruit will often have minor bruising (mushy texture) directly under the skin, so using a knife to remove reasonable slabs of skin and bruised flesh is the ideal way

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