A system for automatically forming chunks and spears at high speed from unpeeled fruit items is provided. The fruit is sliced into unpeeled wedges. The unpeeled wedges are conveyed into a plurality of staggered transverse chunking blades, wherein the flesh, but not the peel, is cut sequentially from the center of each wedge outwardly, flattening each wedge. A peel removal knife is located to sever the peel of each wedge from the center outwardly after the transverse chunk cutting blades have cut the flesh. Spears may be formed by deleting some of the transverse chunking blades.
