By making kiwifruit more convenient to eat, producers hope the market for the fruit will broaden. Roger Harker and I an Hallett at HortResearch New Zealand are working towards this goal with a white, hairy kiwifruit which does not have good eating qualities but which does peel easily to try and combine this characteristic with better tasting kiwifruit.

"The process of peeling requires a distinct zone of weakness to develop below the skin to allow clean separation from the flesh," said Dr Harker. Without this zone, the skin does not peel easily, however citrus fruit and bananas have specific tissues that are programmed biologically to form these zones and so are easy to peel.

Also, ease of peeling is related to the ripening process and it is only when fruit is close to ripening that adhesion between skin and flesh falls to a level that allows for easy detachment.

"Future research needs to focus particularly on identifying methods that allow the skin's properties to be clarified," said Dr Harker.

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