The kiwi, known strictly as the kiwifruit in Australia and New Zealand to avoid confusion with its namesake the kiwi bird, has had an assortment of monikers. Among them are Chinese gooseberry, melonette and hairy bush fruit. These names have had bad connotations since the U.S. was going into the Cold War and melons were taxed, and hairy bush just sounds unappetizing. So when melonettes began to be imported into the U.S. in 1960 the term kiwifruit was born. A member of the berry family since it grows on vines, this fruit has more than twice the amount of vitamin C as an orange and as much potassium as a banana. The outside is ugly, brown and oddly hairy, but the inside is a vivid green with edible black seeds. Once it’s sliced in half you can easily spoon the fruit out. It’s a sweet fruit, tasting kind of like strawberries and maybe grapes, but mostly like kiwi.
Flex your food muscle
November 19, 2008
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