How to Ripen Kiwi Away from the Tree
Kiwifruits, with their brown fuzzy skins and bright green flesh, create a delicious snack along with a meal or dessert. Kiwifruits offer you a variety of nutritional benefits, such as antioxidants, no fat and high amounts of zinc, folate, fiber and vitamin C. Most varieties of hardy kiwifruit ripen best when left on the vine, although they continue to ripen once picked. The common fuzzy kiwifruit is usually picked while still hard and permitted to ripen off the vine. Letting your kiwifruit ripen off the vine allows you to stagger your harvest so that you don’t have heaps of ripe fruits to eat all at one time.
Pick a kiwifruit off the vine in early to late autumn and slice it in half with a knife. Take a look at the seeds. If the seeds are black, the fruit is about to begin the ripening process; fruits picked with white or green seeds will not ripen properly, as they lack the essential sugars needed to achieve that.
Store picked kiwifruits in an air-tight container in the fridge until you are prepared to ripen them.
Place kiwifruits to a windowsill and allow to ripen fully for three to five days. When you can squeeze the fruit quietly and it no longer feels tough, it’s ready to eat.
Place kiwifruits at a brown paper bag or vented plastic bag with a banana or apple to hasten the ripening process, as the ethylene gas emitted from the apple or banana makes the kiwifruit ripen quicker. Kiwifruits ripened this manner will typically be prepared to eat within a day or two.