Kiwi berries are grape-sized, smooth-skinned cousins of the popular fuzzy kiwifruit. They are also called hardy kiwi because they can be grown in colder climates.
This guide covers when kiwi berries are in season, where you can buy them, how to eat them, and why they are considered a super food.
Jump to:
Kiwi berry season
In the US, kiwi berries are typically harvested between August and October. They are also imported around March and April.
Look for other fruits and vegetables in season at the same time as kiwi berries.
Where to buy kiwi berries?
You can buy kiwi berries at specialty markets, as well as Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Costco, when they are in season in fall. Trader Joe's seems to have them most often throughout October rather than the earlier months.
There are a handful of different names for them as well. It might simply be one word, kiwiberries, and some Canadian regions call them kiwi grapes. Whole Foods might refer to them as baby kiwi even though they are not actually young versions of the fuzzy kiwifruit. Lastly, farmers and gardeners refer to them as either Hardy Kiwi or by their botanical name, Actinidia arguta.
Most stores display kiwi berries in chilled produce areas, most often near raspberries and blackberries.
If you live in a cooler climate, like the Pacific Northwest, upper Midwest or Northeast, you might also find them at a farmers market. There are actually a lot of growers in Oregon.
How to eat kiwi berries
Kiwi berries are eaten whole, just like grapes. There's no fuzzy skin to peel and the seeds don't need to be removed. They taste best when they are ripe, which is when they are soft when lightly squeezed between your thumb and finger.
They taste like their cousin, the larger, fuzzy kiwifruit, with only minor differences. Kiwiberries tend to taste slightly sweeter but also have an acidic puckering aftertaste since they contain 5-10 times more acid.
Edible Seattle describes them perfectly, "Think of a hardy kiwi as a distilled version of the fuzzy supermarket variety: smaller, sweeter, more aromatic, and encased in a smooth, edible skin."
The flavor doesn't hold up well to heat, so cooking them isn't ideal. They are best used raw in salads, cheese boards, cocktails, salsa, yogurt, parfaits, and smoothies.
Kiwi berries also don't store as long as fuzzy kiwifruit. They last up to a week in the fridge, but sometimes no more than a day or two. As they are stored, they turn softer, which some people like and others don't.
Nutrition - a super fruit
I know the term super-food is overused, but as far as nutritional density, kiwiberries have earned the title. They have 5 times more vitamin C than oranges, by weight, making them one of the richest sources of the vitamin. They are also a significant source of vitamin B-complex and micro-nutrients (like zinc), and have triple the levels of antioxidants than the fuzzy kiwifruit.
Kiwi berries also have as much potassium and magnesium as bananas, more calcium than broccoli, and twice as much vitamin E as avocados (by weight).
The edible skin contains a significant amount of the nutrients, which is common across most all fruits and vegetables (so don't peel those carrots or potatoes!). Since the skin is smooth and edible, the fruit gets a nutritional advantage.
Nutritional source: The Nutritional and Health Benefits of Kiwiberry (Actinidia arguta) - a Review.
History
Kiwi berries are not a new, engineered fruit. They are actually native to northern, cooler areas of Asia, like parts of China, Korea, and Japan. They've been in the US for over 150 years but have only garnered commercial interest in the recent decades.
When a 'novel' fruit attracts the attention of commercial growers, it undergoes a bunch of research trials. University researches try to determine the best varieties, regions, and growing conditions. They catalogue the quality and yield of the fruit, pest problems, and disease susceptibility.
This information helps farmers determine profitability. They then have to decide if the demand is high enough, which is predicted from market research like this study from University of Minnesota.
In fact, the popular fuzzy kiwifruit was relatively unknown in the 1960s. By the 1980s, the fruit was in every grocery store thanks to aggressive marketing campaigns.
Growing popularity
In the case of kiwi berries, their initial introduction to grocery stores has been wildly popular. That means farms are planting more and more hardy kiwi berry vines to meet demand.
Since kiwi berries are still a very niche fruit, the global production was only 1,600 tons per year (as of 2017 data). Half of that production was in the US, mostly concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. Compared to the brown, fuzzy kiwifruit's global production the same year at about 4 million tons.
Varieties
The specific kiwi berry variety is rarely specified when you buy them. The majority of the US-grown crop is Ananasnaya (also called Anna) which has a red blushed skin. A couple other varieties are less popular but also grown commercially, Passion Popers and Aloha Annas.
In Europe, you will find a variety called Weiki and Geneva. Meanwhile, New Zealand has a few patented cultivars, Hortgem Tahi, Hortgem Rua, and Takaka Green. These varieties are mostly green with no blush on the skin, and the ones you'll find imported into the US in March and April.
If you live in a cooler climate, you can also grow them yourself (they need 400 chill hours). They trellis up pergolas and fences beautifully, just like grape vines. I'm growing some on my own pergola as well as an open-slat metal fence.
Recipes
As a niche fruit, recipes are pretty scarce. Luckily, kiwi berries can be swapped in for kiwifruit in pretty much every recipe. Browse through the kiwifruit recipes I've collected from some great sources.
Leave a Reply