Kiwi is a very beneficial fruit; it surpasses even apples and oranges. In fact, eating one kiwi fruit daily will serve you more than eating two apples and two oranges daily.
There are now several effective and environmentally friendly methods of disposing of our waste. There’s recycling, upcycling, and of course, composting. If you’re familiar with gardening, then you likely know just how important composting is.
Well, if you’re wondering if kiwi can go in your compost pile or that of your community, then you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we’re going to tackle questions about kiwi fruit you didn’t even know you had. So please, enjoy this read.
Can You Put Kiwi in Compost?
Generally, any compostable material will break down fast and can serve as fertilizer for plants. Compost materials typically take about 3 weeks to 6 months to decompose. It’s an effective waste disposal system that kills two birds with a stone.
Now, while you can compost virtually any biodegradable kitchen waste, there are some that it’s best to avoid composting. For example, never include meat and fish, cooking oil, bones, and baked goods in your compost pile. These will break down swiftly but will also attract pests and rodents.
These foods have strong aromas, and while they’ll certainly provide the plants with all the proper nutrients, these unsuitable compost materials will end up doing more harm than good. Meat and fish, dairy products, bones, grease, cooking oil and baked goods in your compost pile can cause pests within the area to dig up your pile and cause a severe mess during their hunt for these foods.
However, a fruit like a kiwi can’t cause any uproar. It’s pretty suitable, in fact, for compost piles. One of the significant food wastes that should go in a compost pile is fruits and vegetables.
Just as kiwi provides you with almost all the nutrients you need to stay healthy, it can supply them to plants. So, whether you bought a bowl of kiwis and left one half-eaten or left of a couple of kiwis sitting out for too long, causing them to spoil, you can include those fruits in your compost waste.
Kiwi has a high sugar content, which also contributes to what makes kiwi fruit so sought after. But at the same time, just as we love kiwi, fruit flies do too! So, if you leave kiwi lying around for a few hours, you’ll come back to realize the horde of fruit flies it’ll have attracted.
This also applies to your compost pile. If you’re composting kiwi, you should bury it at least a foot below the top layer of the soil, so it’ll be very inaccessible to fruit flies. We’re sure you can imagine how chaotic it’ll be to have a ton of fruit flies circling the compost pile in your garden.
However, you won’t have to take such precautions when you’re putting kiwi fruits in the compost bin for your area. You see, these bins are usually covered, which means that even if fruit flies catch a whiff of the kiwi fruits in the bin, they won’t be able to access them.
So yes! You can put kiwi in your compost pile at home or in the bin for your area. However, depending on whichever you opt for, you’ll have to employ some precautionary measures.
Can You Compost Rotten Kiwi?
You may be wondering if you can compost rotten kiwi. It may seem like the fruit has gone too bad to be of any use to you or even a compost bin or pile. Well, the short answer is that you can compost rotten kiwi.
In fact, you should compost rotten kiwi! Since one of the significant essences of composting is to create a uniform disposal system for food waste, it doesn’t leave out even rotten food. If you decide to throw it in the trash can instead, it’ll end up in the landfills, and while it’ll decay pretty fast too, it can leave a pungent smell in the air.
So, even if a food or fruit is rotten, if it’s suitable for the compost pile or bin, then you can certainly put it there.
Now, back to composting rotten kiwi. Rotten kiwi is still kiwi, but it’s ripened a tad too much. As such, it can still go in your compost pile. It even works in your favor, as it’s already taken off a significant time from the total period kiwi needs to decompose appropriately to become fertilizer for your plants.
This makes the process easier, but it may also make the kiwi more attractive to fruit flies. Hence, when you’re composting rotten kiwi at home, be sure to include it among the materials that are at least a foot below the surface. That way, it’ll be entirely impossible for fruit flies to get to the rotten kiwi fruits.
If you aren’t composting your waste yourself, you can also include rotten kiwi in your community’s compost bin. Since most foods in it will also be a tad rotten, your rotten kiwi fruits will fit right in.
Can You Compost Kiwi Skins?
While kiwi is a delicious and nutritious fruit, not everyone enjoys eating its skin. The insides of kiwi fruits look inviting and delicious, but most people don’t even want to have a taste of the fuzzy, brown exterior.
Some people also don’t know it’s edible. If you’re one of them, or you simply don’t enjoy eating the skin even though you know it’s edible, then you can easily dispose of it by composting it. Even if you don’t enjoy the numerous benefits of eating kiwi skins, then your plants should.
Whether you’re interested in composting kiwi skins for your garden or simply looking for a suitable disposal method for it, the compost pile or bin is an excellent place for kiwi skins.
But again, if you’re composting the kiwi skins in your garden, you should ensure that you place them at least a foot below the surface of the ground. This is because Kiwi skin can attract fruit flies almost as effectively as the interior of the fruit. In fact, fruit flies will enjoy it just as much as the interior because usually, they have to first feast on the skins before diving into the main juicy parts.
Of course, you should compost kiwi skins, but if you’re doing it at home, ensure you do it properly to avoid creating a mess in your garden.
Is Kiwi a Citrus Fruit?
Kiwi is shaped like an orange and has delicious yellow insides. It also grows where oranges and other citrus fruits grow – in warm, sub-tropical areas. Kiwi also has a slight acidic taste that’s similar to what citrus fruits have. Kiwi even has a higher vitamin C content than oranges.
All these reasons make people classify kiwi as citrus fruit. So, while kiwi is an exotic fruit that shares a ton of similarities with other citrus fruits, the former falls under non-citrus fruits.
Can You Eat Kiwi Seeds?
Kiwi seeds, just like the fleshy part, can be eaten. So yes, we understand that there’s a misconception that it can’t, but that’s all it is – a misconception. While it’s similar in size and shape to guava fruits which may cause health problems, kiwi seeds have the opposite effect.
They aren’t as tasty as the fleshy part of the fruit but are just as beneficial. Eating kiwi seeds will make digestion easier and faster, and if you suffer from constipation, you can use this instead of medication.
We don’t exactly expect you to scoop out the seeds and save them for later. You can simply chew the seeds with the fleshy part. You can also eat the seeds whole or even blend them with your kiwi fruits for smoothies.
The tiny black seeds aren’t as nutritious as the actual fruits, but they also have several health benefits. For one, they make protein digestion easier and faster. Typically, it can take about two days for your body to digest meat and fish because they have complex molecules, but kiwi seeds make this process faster.
Kiwi seeds also have Omega-3 fats in them, and these fats are suitable for your brain. They are healthy fats that are quite different from animal fat, and eating enough Omega-3 fats won’t cause excessive weight gain.
Finally, you’ll get sufficient protein, antioxidants, and fiber from eating kiwi seeds. You’ll also get fiber when you consume the fleshy part of the kiwi fruit, but eating the seeds with it gives you an extra dose. It’s also a healthy source of protein for you. So, you see, eating kiwi seeds gets you sufficient nutrients without putting you at the risk of gaining an extra pound or two.
Can You Eat Kiwi Skin?
Every part of the kiwi fruit is edible and nutritious. While some parts are tastier than others, you can consume the entire thing. If you favor making smoothies instead of eating the fruit the traditional way, you can still chop up and blend the whole kiwi fruit.
Most people prefer to remove the brown fuzzy peel and seeds and eat the kiwi fruits alone. However, while this isn’t bad, you’ll be throwing away some of the nutritional parts.
Kiwi skin isn’t nearly as nutritious as the actual flesh, but you can still gain some nutrients from it. In some cases, it may even be more beneficial than the flesh. For example, we bet you didn’t know that kiwi skin has even more oxidants than its flesh.
The skin also has sufficient fiber, folate, and vitamin E. Fiber is excellent for combating cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes. Vitamin E and folate are great for your cells, the former makes them healthier, and the latter helps them grow.
Kiwi fruit in its entirety – fuzzy peel, seeds, flesh and core, is very good for pregnant mothers. It provides them with sufficient protection against tube defects. It’s also high in folic acid, and this is great for preventing fetal growth defects.
Since you know about the benefits of eating kiwi skin, you may be willing to give it one more try. We suggest that you eat only the skin of ripe kiwi fruits, as they contain fewer levels of oxalates, the chemicals that irritate your mouth when you bite into the skin.
You may also consider blending the entire kiwi as a smoothie or simply biting into it like you would an apple. Just remember, the riper the fruit is, the tastier it’ll be in its entirety.
Conclusion
Kiwi fruit is highly beneficial to our plants and us. Whatever part of it we’re unable to consume, we can compost. This blog post has adequately explained everything you need to know about consuming and composting kiwi fruits. So, don’t hesitate to consume and compost all the parts of your kiwi fruit!
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