What kiwifruit skin is doing in a hand wash

Most of a kiwifruit is thrown away. The part that is thrown away is the part we use.

The skin, not the flesh

The flesh of a kiwifruit is mostly water and sugar. The skin is where the fruit keeps what protects it: the phenolic compounds, and a great deal of soluble fibre. NZ Extracts, in Blenheim, Marlborough, takes the skins of mature New Zealand grown kiwifruit and makes them into an extract called Vinanza® Kiwi. Fifty parts of skin become one part of extract. By the company's own specification it carries more than 30 milligrams of phenolic material and more than 300 milligrams of soluble fibre in every gram.

Water, and only water

The extraction is done with potable water. Wash, extract, concentrate, freeze-dry. No solvent is used and none has to be removed afterwards. It is a slow way to make an ingredient and a careful one.

What it does on your hands

In Only Good® hand wash and body wash, Vinanza® Kiwi supports moisture and the skin's barrier. That is the claim on the pack and it is the only claim we make for it. Other people say more about kiwifruit extracts than that. We keep to what is printed, because what is printed has been checked.

Why it matters that it is grown here

The FernMark on the bottle is issued for three things, and one of them is grown in. For most products that is a hard thing to prove, because an ingredient list does not say where a plant stood. This one does. The fruit is New Zealand grown, the skins are extracted in Marlborough, and the maker is at a named road in Blenheim. Grown in stops being a phrase and becomes a place.

Wash your hands and you will not feel any of this. That is the point. What you feel is skin that is not tight afterwards.