Pardon my ignorance. Is KIWI fruit native to NZ?
Pardon my ignorance. Is KIWI fruit native to NZ?
yes jinkee
See this text, found on www.kiwi.bird.freeservers.com
The "kiwi" is not to be confused with "kiwifruit" - the brown furry fruit with the green flesh. Kiwifruit (Actinidia Chinesis) is a native of the Yangtse Valley in south central China where it is known as Yang Tao, or "monkey peach". The fruit was originally called a "Chinese gooseberry" in English. Sometime in the 1960s, kiwifruit farmers in New Zealand decided to market the fruit around the world, but decided to give it another name. "Chinese gooseberries" sounded sour, and were associated with the then-dreaded "Red China" plus the name was just not "sexy"! To help identify the fruit with New Zealand, the much cuter name "kiwifruit" was chosen.
:hopeso
A kiwi is not just a fruit
:eek kiwifruit not originally from NZ :eek sorry - my bad ops:
In fear of making myself sound abit of a pratt here, but I'm sure there's been some bickering going on between the Chinese and the New Zealanders regarding the good old Kiwi Fruit.
I understand that the name Kiwi Fruit was never actually registered in NZ. Recently the astute Chinese growers decided to register the name Kiwi Fruit for the ones produced in China. So - the ones produced in NZ can no longer (legally) be called Kiwi Fruit. I understand they now go by the name of Zespre.
No doubt the exact details will differ slightly from what I've written above, but I'm sure you'll find the 'guts' of the story is correct.
Abit like the opportunist Aussie - Ugg boots have been to the Kiwi's what tea and scones have been to the English for just about as long as anybody can remember. But again, the actual name was never registered. A couple of years ago an Aussie manufacturer of the said sheepskin boots decided to register the name for himself ....... abit of a dirty trick but I can't help finding it amusing ops:
OK - any more useless info required?
Diny
Diny - you should go on "Who wants to be a millionaire"!
Hey Carol I'd love to, I'm an expert in the safety of my arm chair ...... in front of cameras I would make a complete and utter fool of myself - believe me.
Diny
Yeah, but think of all those dollars the pounds would become - if only you could answer all 15 questions. :eek
Debs
Hi Evelien,
I was only expexting a "yes" or "no" answer about the kiwifruit. I didn't realize that there's a story behind it. Thanks for the info.
-jinkee