Grotty kiwi fruit?

firebirds, May 13, 8:56am
I have a bag of kiwi fruit that are hard and arnt rippenng. . they seem to have a very hard core in them... from conversations I have heard at the supermarket there are a lot of people unhappy with the quality fo the kiwifruit currently available ... . so what can I do with them apart from getting very grumpy and throwing them out? ... . tia

cookessentials, May 13, 9:09am
Pop them into a brown paper bag preferably with another piece of fruit- the gases from the fruit usually will help ripen them.

maxwell.inc, May 13, 9:16am
yup. . as above. . but pop the bag in hot water cupboard. . banana is best but apple will do (make sure you break the skin on the narna or apple - speeds up the release of the ethly)

rainrain1, May 13, 7:49pm
Aren't they horrible? By the way the birds love them

herika, May 13, 9:49pm
Ours arent too bad down here so far... ... :)

greerg, May 13, 10:25pm
Have tried the ripening in the bag trick but these ones with hard core just seem to go from hard to horrible. Not sure what the problem is. I know the harvest was very early this year with some experienced growers saying it was their earlist ever so perhaps the growing conditions that caused that also led to quality issues.

maxwell.inc, May 13, 10:31pm
yup the fruit would have also lacked water while growing - that will be the main problem - (and also the reason for an early pick sometimes) and the fact that the pick was early would mean the sugars were not set correctly. . so bin it...

And next time your choosing your fruit (any fruit) sniff test it first. . if it smells like what that fruit should smell like then buy it - it will have flavor because the sugars have developed.

buzzy110, May 13, 10:49pm
I see this same complaint every year. As maxwell says the first kiwifruits of the season are usually picked too early. Don't know why they do that but IMO it is definitely best to wait a few weeks, from when they first come into the shops, before buying them.

I also think that you should take them back to the shop you bought them from and ask for your money back. The fruit should be edible. I think there are laws covering that in the Consumer Guarantee Act. If enough people did that, instead of meekly binning them then maybe shops would stop buying the first of the season fruit and the growers would stop picking them and foisting them off on the unsuspecting public.

firebirds, May 14, 9:46am
thanks I think I will take these ones back... . . the cost of living is to high to pay good money for grotty inediable fruit

korbo, May 14, 8:30pm
are the kiwi fruit in shops now coming from Italy. my hubby says thats what he saw in the su/mkt last week. they were horrid. threw them out. . hard as rock. s

dezzie, May 14, 9:30pm
They are just picking new seasons kiwifruit now, well here anyway, I'm guessing the northern ones were picked earlier, they just need ripening. I've never had issues with the hard core going yuk once they are ripe though.

lilyfield, May 14, 9:53pm
otherwise you can always stew them and eat on your cereal.

mwood, May 14, 10:06pm
use them to tenderise their equally grotty and overpriced supermarket meat if you were sucked into purchasing any - kiwifruit is actually very good for tenderising meat but don't leave it for more than an hour or so unless refrigerated and don't use it for fillet steak or venison

antoniab, May 14, 10:45pm
I did that last night with a piece of sirlion that was so tough the night before (2 pieces in the pack) marinated for about 2hrs with the juice of a kiwifruit and it was tender as! Yum!

mwood, May 2, 11:46pm
right - and I like to smear a bit of minced garlic and chilli paste on as well to cut the sweetness