What To Do With Kiwi?

You're probably already familiar with the basic kiwi mechanics:  you have to peel it to get at the green stuff.  If you're having your fruit raw, you can always cut it in half and spoon the flesh out (that's my Mum's favoured method - I shudder at the very thought).  

Kiwi slices are actually quite pretty, so they are often used for decorating fruit desserts.  One warning:  like pineapple, fresh kiwifruits make it impossible for jelly to set.  They just don't like pork gelatin (apparently, it's all enzymes' fault).  You can still use algae-based jelly.

Kiwi is popular in fruit salads, it is also often whizzed up in smoothies - you know, the lovely green colour.  

Kiwi slices on sandwiches are not that famous, but unexpectedly delicious.  My favourite combination:  ham, cheese, lettuce, bell peppers, kiwi, ketchup.  Yum!  Generally, I think of kiwi as a tomato substitute (at least when we're talking sandwiches).  

Photo source

Kiwi-Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

Kiwi-Banana-Tahini Smoothie

Kiwi-Melon-Mint Smoothie

Kiwi-Watermelon Smoothie

Kiwi-Raspberry Smoothie

Kiwi-Banana-Mango Smoothie

Kiwi is more suitable for dessert than the main course, but so is peach.  No need to add that both can be used in savoury dishes.  

I chose chicken for my kiwi experiment (recipe below), but you can just as well use it with pork, beef, lamb, turkey or even fish - and that's main courses only!  There's also kiwi sauce (how about this one?), kiwi salsa, kiwi curry, not to mention innumerable kiwi salads (here, or here, or here - to give you only a few).  

Photo by Tiggered

Oh my, where should I start...  The world is full of kiwi dessert recipes.  

Quick and easy:

Greek yogurt and kiwi parfait

Kiwi trifle

Kiwifruits with lime syrup

Slightly fancier:

Kiwi fruit cake

Kiwi muffins

Kiwi sorbet

Elaborate:

Kiwi cheesecake

Strawberry kiwi daiquiri cupcakes with kiwi filling and rum frosting

Kiwi layer cake

I didn't have exact ingredients for any of the above, so I had to design my very own kiwi dessert - recipe below.

Photo by Tiggered

I have a plan to make some kiwi jam tomorrow, I'll be sure to report how it goes.  I'm not yet sure which recipe to use, but I'm aiming at something without commercial pectic, so I'm likely to end up making kiwi-apple jam.  If jam is not your thing, you can always go for kiwi chutney or kiwi confiture.

Update:

I did make the jam!  It worked!  I'm glowing with pride.  See, I'm not a particularly good jam maker.  You definitely wouldn't like to try my blackberry/apple jam-like concoction (is jam supposed to behave like syrup?  I don't think so) and as to the rowanberry jelly... Let's just not go there, ok?

I tried, you see.  I always studied online recipes, read all I could find about extracting pectin from apple cores, desired setting temperatures and the likes.  All the fuss for nought, my jam-making was disastrous each time.  Until the kiwifruits arrived...

In my desperation, I decided to forgo all the fancy recipes and stick to the simplest method on the books:

Just fry the hell out of the bastard.

It worked!  It worked briliantly!  My jam is 100% jam-like and absolutely delicious!  

So yes, when in doubt, just turn the heat on :)