Quello che mi piace del kiwi è il sapore acidulo, ma il mandarino è più facile da sbucciare.

Quello che means what or more literally the thing that.

So:

• Quello che mi piace del kiwi = What I like about kiwi / The thing I like about kiwi

This is a very common Italian structure:

• Quello che penso = What I think
• Quello che voglio = What I want

Here, quello is a demonstrative pronoun, and che introduces the relative clause.

Because piacere works differently from English to like.

In Italian, the thing that is pleasing is the grammatical subject, and the person who likes it is expressed indirectly.

So:

• mi piace il kiwi literally = the kiwi is pleasing to me
• natural English = I like kiwi

In your sentence:

• Quello che mi piace del kiwi è il sapore acidulo
• literally: What is pleasing to me about kiwi is the tart flavor

So mi means to me, not me as a direct object.

Del = di + il, so it means of the or about the depending on context.

Here:

• Quello che mi piace del kiwi = What I like about the kiwi / about kiwi

It does not mean that the flavor belongs to the kiwi in a strong possessive sense. It is simply the natural Italian way to say about the kiwi or in the kiwi.

Similar examples:

• Quello che amo di questa città = What I love about this city
• Mi piace il colore degli occhi = I like the color of the eyes

Italian uses definite articles much more often than English, especially with nouns used in a general sense.

So Italian often says:

• il kiwi
• il mandarino
• il pane
• la musica

where English might simply say:

• kiwi
• mandarin
• bread
• music

In this sentence, il kiwi and il mandarino can be understood generically: the speaker is talking about kiwi and mandarin fruit as categories, not necessarily one specific fruit in front of them.

In standard Italian, kiwi is usually treated as masculine:

• singular: il kiwi
• plural: i kiwi

The word itself usually does not change form, so the article shows the number:

• il kiwi
• i kiwi

That is common with many borrowed words in Italian.

Because il sapore acidulo is the full noun phrase meaning the tart flavor or the slightly acidic taste.

Breakdown:

• il sapore = the flavor / taste
• acidulo = slightly acidic, tart

So:

• è il sapore acidulo = is the tart flavor

You could not normally use only acidulo here, because the sentence is identifying what the speaker likes: specifically, the flavor.

Not exactly.

• acido = acidic, sour
• acidulo = slightly acidic, tart, pleasantly sharp

Acidulo is often softer and more nuanced than acido. It can suggest a mild, distinctive tartness rather than strong sourness.

So for fruit, acidulo often sounds more natural and descriptive than acido.

Because there are really two separate clauses joined by ma:

1. Quello che mi piace del kiwi è il sapore acidulo
2. ma il mandarino è più facile da sbucciare

Each clause needs its own verb.

The first è links:

• subject: Quello che mi piace del kiwi
• complement: il sapore acidulo

The second è links:

• subject: il mandarino
• adjective phrase: più facile da sbucciare

In Italian, adjective + da + infinitive is a very common structure meaning to be ... to do in a passive-like sense.

So:

• facile da sbucciare = easy to peel
• literally: easy to be peeled

Other examples:

• difficile da capire = hard to understand
• facile da usare = easy to use
• un libro da leggere = a book to read

So il mandarino è più facile da sbucciare means the mandarin is easier to peel.

Good question. In this structure, the object is already understood from the subject:

• il mandarino è più facile da sbucciare

This means:

• the mandarin is easier to peel
• literally, the mandarin is easier to be peeled

Because il mandarino is already the thing being peeled, Italian normally uses da + infinitive without adding a pronoun.

You could say è più facile sbucciarlo in a different structure, but that would not be the same construction:

• Il mandarino è più facile da sbucciare = more standard here
• È più facile sbucciarlo = It is easier to peel it

Both are possible in the right context, but the sentence you were given uses the common adjective + da + infinitive pattern.

Ma means but.

It introduces a contrast:

• the kiwi is appreciated for its tart flavor
• the mandarin, by contrast, is appreciated because it is easier to peel

So the speaker is comparing two positive qualities of two different fruits.

In Italian, mandarino can have different meanings depending on context, but here it clearly means mandarin orange / tangerine-like citrus fruit.

That is obvious because of:

• il kiwi
• sapore acidulo
• sbucciare

All of that creates a fruit-related context.

Yes. A simpler version might be:

• Mi piace il sapore acidulo del kiwi, ma il mandarino è più facile da sbucciare.

This means essentially the same thing:

• I like the tart flavor of kiwi, but the mandarin is easier to peel.

The original sentence with Quello che mi piace... è... is a little more structured and slightly more emphatic. It highlights what I like about kiwi before naming it.

It is natural, but it does create some emphasis.

The structure:

• Quello che mi piace del kiwi è...

focuses attention on the specific quality the speaker likes. It is similar to English:

• What I like about kiwi is...

That sounds a bit more deliberate than:

• I like the tart flavor of kiwi...

So yes, the word order is normal, but it also adds focus.

Yes, both can relate to taste, but they are not always identical.

• sapore = flavor, taste
• gusto = taste, but also preference, style, or sense of taste

In a sentence about the characteristic flavor of a fruit, sapore is very natural:

• il sapore acidulo del kiwi

Using gusto is possible in some contexts, but sapore is usually the clearer choice when talking about the flavor profile of food.