Do you really know how to eat a kiwi?

Many of us have been eating kiwis for quite a long time. But the question is ‘How do you do it?’ We mean, how do you actually eat them? Do you peel kiwi’s hairy skin or do you cut it in half and scoop the flesh? It may sound crazy, but there are people who rub the fruit’s fuzz off with a paper towel or scrape it off with a knife and eat a whole berry. With skin. Can you imagine biting into it as you would do into an apple? Sounds like a new concept, but people actually do it not only for fun but also for extra fiber. Give it a try just to settle this question once and for all. Perhaps, you can simply slice the kiwifruit as it is and enjoy it. Hey, even Wikipedia says its skin is ‘sour-but-edible’!

We often think of kiwis as fruit from Australia and New Zealand (where, by the way, it’s always called kiwifruit, because kiwi, as you may know, is a bird as well as the native inhabitants of New Zealand), but originally it came from China, where it was used for medical purposes. Really their kiwis were quite big to be taken as pills. Hard to swallow. But there are kiwi berries that are the size of a grape. They taste the same but look smoother and, thus, more pleasant to many. They bear a cute name – baby kiwi, also they are referred to as cocktail kiwi or dessert kiwi.

Speaking of dessert. There are hundreds of ways to celebrate a kiwifruit, but we’ve chosen the one that stole our heart with the simple beauty of its appearance. Without further ado – kiwi compote.

Compote is a mixture of fruits in sugar syrup served cold or warm. This one is made from kiwi and apples. It’s so easy, you probably won’t believe, but all you have to do is to take equal parts by weight of peeled apples and kiwis, mix it with some honey (1 Tbsp for every fruit), drizzle with lemon juice, add a couple of cardamom and vanilla pods and cook everything in a pan until the mixture looks smooth. Don’t have pods? Omit them easily, add more sugar if needed. When done, let cool and dollop compote on top of yogurt or granola, pancakes or scones, waffles or cupcakes. It’s so bright and delicious you won’t be able to wrap your mind around how somebody could ever call it a ‘macaque fruit’. That was in China, but who cares, when we have compote.