Kiwi Fruit

[Sonu Sharma]

Kiwi Fruit

The Kiwi Fruit is the national fruit of China. It was originated in Chang Kiang valley of China. Chinese used it as a health tonic, especially, for women after childbirth and for children to enhance immunity. It is also known as Chinese Gooseberry. Kiwi fruit was first exported to Asia as an ornamental vine.It was first brought to and cultivated in New Zealand at the turn of the 20th century. To avoid the high duties charged on berries, the name was changed to the kiwifruit, or kiwi because of the fruit's shared characteristics with New Zealand's national symbol, the kiwi bird, which is also small, brown and fuzzy. 

Kiwifruit can be grown in most temperate climates with adequate summer heat. To have good fruits, the female plant need to be pollinated by the male one and for one male plant there are around eight female vines waiting. Is it not interesting here ? Well, and more interesting is that the one which are pollinated yield more fruits than the self pollinated ones. The flowers of this fruit are not very attractive for the bees to sit on them so the place where they are cultivated, there the people set bee hives, many bee hives so that the bees are forced to choose this flower. This type of pollination is known as Saturation Pollination. The Kiwi fruit has a brown hairy peel with white pulp and green flesh. It has tiny black seeds and green creamy and yummy flesh. Immature fruits are hard while mature ones are softer and yield to little pressure. I am a big fan of this exotic flavored fruit. I love to see how nature has made it so beautiful by the lemon green color, light green color and beautiful seeds in between which looks like sesame seeds. Their taste in the mouth feels so crunchy and I love it.

Some kiwi fruits have a red color ring also in between, which I have just heard, seen and read about but never tasted. There are many types of kiwi fruits which I never knew before last year when I asked that why I am not getting the same taste and flesh type kiwi which I was buying every week. Then a salesman educated me that there are many varieties of Kiwi fruits and to know some of them, they are:-

 The most common kiwifruit is the fuzzy kiwifruit, from the species A. deliciosa. Other species that are commonly eaten include golden kiwifruit (A. chinensis), Chinese egg gooseberry (A. coriacea), baby kiwifruit (A. arguta), Arctic kiwifruit (A. kolomikta), red kiwifruit (A. melanandra), silver vine (A. polygama), purple kiwifruit (A. purpurea). What all I have written here is extracted from wikipedia, but  the person who told me and educated me on the taste and variety of this fruit was that salesman. I forgot the names he told me, so I looked into wikipedia for the correct ones to write it here. 

Including Kiwis in our daily diet is extremely beneficial for our health. They help in maintaining  healthy skin tone and texture, reducing blood pressure and preventing heart disease and stroke, weight loss, curing constipation, and boosting immunity. The Potassium content in it helps controlling the blood pressure because it helps keep our electrolytes in balance. It is having good amount of Vit C, therefore helps in boosting our immunity as well as making us beautiful by erasing fine wrinkles and fighting stress and ageing. By just eating it our skin texture becomes smooth and glowing. Adequate intake of vitamin C has been shown to be helpful in reducing the severity of conditions like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma, and for preventing conditions such as colon cancer, atherosclerosis, and diabetic heart disease. And since vitamin C is necessary for the healthy function of the immune system, it may be useful for preventing recurrent ear infections in people who suffer from them. The best part of it for which I like it is the fact that it is total fat free. In today's life, having so much in one thing and that too fat free, is a boon. It is an amazing powerhouse. It is just how and when you start for it , that you know the exact value and benefits of the fruit. It is also very rich in anti-oxidants, so helps reducing or minimizing the risk of cancer. Two kiwifruits deliver 30 mg of magnesium, which improves nerve and muscle function while boosting your energy level. Kiwi may have a mild laxative effect and could be used as a dietary supplement especially for the people who are suffering from constipation. It is good in dietary fiber and fiber is also good for binding and removing toxins from the colon, which is helpful for preventing colon cancer. In addition, fiber-rich foods, like kiwifruit, are good for keeping the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients under control. Its skin is also edible but because of the texture, it is generally discarded. Kiwifruit has fascinated researchers for its ability to protect DNA in the nucleus of human cells from oxygen-related damage. 

We can have it in many ways and one of the best and the simplest is peeling and slicing, or not even slicing. Peeling is enough for me to make it edible. People like to take its juice, make jams, salsas, chutneys, bread spreads etc. with it. They are also widely used in baking things like cakes and breads and all. Bakers love to use it on the icing on the cakes most of the times but they are used in the making of the cakes too.They can be mixed in your daily salad plate making it more nutritious and tasty too. Its tangy flavor can give a miss to your lemons used in salads at times. I love its smoothie a lot, a lot means a lot. I can take two glasses in a go. You can also slice kiwi over your morning cereal, lunch time yogurt or green salads. For a more elegant meal, decorate any fish dish or fruit salad with kiwi slices. Stuff it up in your sandwiches with a dash or ketchup and mustard. It will taste wow!!. I love it. 

(all the pictures are sourced from internet)