Kiwi fruits are jam-packed with nutrients. They have more vitamin C than oranges and about as much potassium as a banana. So they’re great to eat, but what happens if they go bad?
Can you compost kiwis? Yes, you can compost both the flesh and the skin of kiwi fruit. The high sugar content can attract fruit flies, but you can avoid this by covering the kiwi with a high carbon material like dry leaves. However, don’t forget that the skins are very nutritious and you could eat them rather than composting them.
How to compost kiwis
Kiwis are very high in sugar which is an excellent food for the microbes, but can also lead to a fruit fly problem. Fruit flies will lay their eggs on any food they can find, but they won’t burrow to lay eggs. Therefore, if you bury the kiwi fruit deep enough, you’ll eliminate any risk of fruit flies.
Fruit flies can be a problem for traditional composters as well as worm bins, so this advice applies to both types of composting.
Can you compost kiwi skins?
Yes, you can compost kiwi skins. They’ll break down pretty quickly in a well-managed compost pile. But, if you can get past the slightly hairy texture, it’s much better to eat the skins!
Eating the skin of a kiwi as well as the flesh will increase its fiber content by 50%, and the folate content by 32%.
Source: The nutritional and health attributes of a kiwifruit: a review
Kiwis are a nutritious fruit, and when you consume the skin, they become even better for you. The peel has a higher concentration of antioxidants than the flesh, including Vitamin C and Vitamin E. Both these antioxidants are great for your skin.
To get rid of the unpleasant fluff on the outside of the fruit, you can rub it with a clean towel or vegetable brush.
Can worms eat kiwis?
A kiwi is a soft, juicy fruit that contains a lot of sugar. Composting worms will devour kiwis, both the flesh and the skin should have disappeared within a few days.
Although worms love to eat kiwis, you do need to be careful not to overload the bin, especially if you have a small container. Kiwi fruits will add a lot of moisture into the bin. This could overwhelm a small bin and make everything too wet. Also, too many kiwis could make your worm bin too acidic.
Kiwis aren’t the most acidic fruit, but they do have an acidic pH. And if your worm farm has an acidic pH, this could harm the worms. Adding crushed eggshells to your bin every so often will keep the pH neutral because the calcium carbonate will help neutralize any excess acid.
If you’re worried about the pH of your bin you can measure it with a pH meter. The ideal pH for composting worms is between 6 and 7.
