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Summary Galicia (N.W. Spain) produces 60% of Spanish kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) and 5–20% of these are ‘destrío’ fruits, which do not reach market size and the appropriate form. These rejected fruits can be processed into products, thus increasing their added value. The processing of kiwifruit always includes a peeling operation, which can be performed by different systems. The most suitable conditions for caustic peeling and thermal peeling were established. Then, the two peeling systems were compared with manual peeling with the aim of selecting the best system to remove the peel of the ‘destrío’ kiwifruit. The fruits, once harvested, were stored in a cold chamber at 0 °C. Before processing or marketing kiwifruits, it is necessary to remove them from storage in cold chamber and storage at room temperature. In this study, different storage times at room temperature before peeling kiwifruits were also tested. The best system for peeling the kiwifruit was thermal peeling as this system resulted in the lowest weight loss and preserved the green colour characteristic of the kiwifruit. The best time for peeling the kiwifruit was after 8 days of storage at room temperature, after being removed from the cold chamber.