kiwi

We love kiwifruits at our house.  Going to the grocery store we discovered that they were on sale and bought a large number of them.

Kiwifruits originated in China and were originally called Chinese gooseberry.  At some point it transitioned to New Zealand where it was renamed Kiwifruit.  From there it travelled to California where it is now a commercial crop; they are also grown commercially in New Zealand, Italy, France, Chile, and Japan.

Kiwifruits are very high in vitamin C with just one small fruit providing 120% of your RDA.  They have a lot of fiber and are also a good source of potassium, magnesium and vitamin E.  

Our favorite way to eat them is to simply cut them in half and scoop them out with a spoon although kiwi pineapple smoothies are pretty tasty and kiwi lime pie is a wonderful thing.  Kiwifruits are a very attractive and healthy addition to a fruit salad but beware, they mush easily.  Kiwifruits contain actinic and bromic acids which tend to make the fruit more tender once it's been cut.  If you cut it and let it sit it tends to get mushy so add it to your fruit salad just before serving.  

One side note, kiwifruit contain a substance that has been associated with a latex-fruit allergy so if you are allergic to latex it may be wise to avoid eating kiwifruits.  Other fruits that have this same compound are avocados and bananas.

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net