The pesky brown fuzz that protects the sweet flesh of the kiwi has irritated lovers of the fruit with its tendency to stick to everything. Now scientists in New Zealand are attempting to rid the fruit of its hairy exterior and develop either a new skin that peels more easily or get rid of the skin completely. "When you actually look at the top 10 fruits in the world, six of the top 10 are convenience products," Lain Jager, chief executive of Zespri, the world's biggest kiwi exporting company told the Wall Street Journal. "Having a kiwifruit that you could eat in a convenient way would be fantastic."
Zespri has produced several prototypes but so far the efforts have been rejected by so-called kiwi sommeliers (!), whose job it is to sample up to 30 kiwis a day during harvest season. Early failures included a version with an "easy-peel pale gray skin" and a better-looking white fuzz version that, while beautiful inside and out, didn't cut it in the flavor department. Kiwi taster Elizabeth Popowski has even eaten versions of the fruit with "hints of kerosene."
The kiwi industry in New Zealand makes up $1 billion of the country's economy and Zespri hopes that the millions they're pouring into development of the naked kiwi—along with tax payer funds from the government—will push that figure higher. The company previously created a gold kiwi more resistant to bacteria, as well as a new variety of spicy kiwi with an orange interior, but it's the traditional fruit they're most concerned with perfecting. It's their shot to take down the apple market.
