I’ve always thought of the kiwi
as being quintessentially a New Zealand
fruit – we import most of our
kiwis from there June-October (California’s season is November – May)
& the Kiwi bird is New Zealand’s National Symbol & a nickname
for any of their citizens.
How
surprised I was, then, to recently learn that Kiwifruit is actually
native to China (& is China’s official National Fruit) & that
the world’s leading producer is not New Zealand (nor the US or China) –
but Italy. Kiwifruit wasn’t even introduced to New Zealand until the
early 20th century and wasn’t named “Kiwi” until the 1950’s (before
that they were known as “Chinese Gooseberries”).
How strange.
Regardless
of my false impressions of this fuzzy brown fruit’s identity, I’m not
mistaken in my convictions of its tastiness & nutrition. One
kiwifruit contains almost 100% of your RDA of vitamin C, & is also
rich in dietary fiber & potassium (& antioxidant flavanoids if
you eat the skin… go ahead – they’re organic!) They look & taste
lovely in fruit salads, fresh fruit tarts, smoothies, holiday fruit
baskets, or simply sliced on your breakfast plate.