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Kiwi fruit, otherwise known as Chinese gooseberries, are a climbing shrub from the Yantze Valley that were introduced to New Zealand in 1906 --- and were genetically improved by Hayward Wright, a gifted N.Z. horticulturalist. He developed the now-common (and eponymous) Hayward variety of kiwi fruit. Chinese gooseberries got their name changed to kiwi fruit in the 1950s, because Americans in those xenophobic times did not want to have anything to do with anything Chinese, and smart New Zealand marketers knew what they had to do to encourage the popularity of the fruit that strangely, the Chinese
themselves had traditionally had little interest in, except as a tonic given to women after childbirth.
Kiwi fruit are rich in vitamin C, containing pound for pound ten times that of lemons. They also contain a tenderizing enzyme such as that which is found in papayas: kiwi fruit pureed very briefly makes a savory tenderizing marinade for meat. More simply, the hollowed-out shells of the fruit can be rubbed on a piece of meat before grilling it.
Rather like the felicitous combination of tomato and basil, kiwi fruit and raspberries go very well together in fruity desserts. Kiwi fruit also make for an arresting alternative ingredient in maragaritas; and add sweetness and sharpness when added in the last hour of cooking of beef brisket.
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