General Information
About the size of an egg, kiwifruit is wrapped in a russet-brown thin skin with short rather stiff hairs. The kaleidoscope-like almost glistening emerald green firm pulp is dotted with a large amount of dark nearly black tiny edible seeds that create this fruit’s characteristic interior starburst pattern. Sometimes the flesh may be yellow, brownish or off-white. Sweet-tart with a slightly acidic edge, this decorative fruit’s succulent flavor is mainly sweet.
History
Native to the Yangtze River Valley of northern China and Zhejiang Province on the coast of eastern China, this fruit was first grown commercially in New Zealand. England received their very first kiwifruit shipment in 1953. Not frost-tolerant, the vigorous woody twining vine or climbing shrubby plants require a long growing season. Only fully dormant plants can survive temperatures around ten degrees Fahrenheit. The rambling vines are capable of stretching to cover an area ten to fifteen feet wide, eighteen to twenty-four feet long and nine to twelve feet high. Producing deep green leathery-textured oval to round leaves that can grow seven to ten inches in diameter, fragrant one to two inches wide white to cream-colored flowers appear in the leaf axils. In the United States, California produces about ninety-nine percent of the nation’s kiwifruit supply.
