Actinidia deliciosa

Kiwi ( Actinidia deliciosa)

Actinidia deliciosa, referred to in German as the kiwi, Chinese rays pen or Chinese gooseberry, is an endemic species of the rays in culture stylus. This type, especially the cultivar ' Hayward ', provides the majority of the world's traded kiwifruit.

It is distinguished as a separate species from Chinese rays stylus ( Actinidia chinensis) only since 1984.

Features

Actinidia deliciosa is a perennial, woody, liana -like growing, deciduous vine. The leaves are alternate and are shaped very differently depending on the variety. They are broad and elongated, oval to heart-shaped. At the bottom, they are soft-hairy.

This species is dioecious, meaning there are male and female flowers on separate plants. The flowers appear singly or together in inflorescences that arise from leaf axils side. The inflorescences arise at last year's shoots. The flowers are four to five inches tall, white and fragrant.

The fruits are oval to cylindrical -shaped berries of up to eight inches long and five inches wide. Sometimes they are flattened on two sides. The shell is thin and hairy fur -like. The color of the skin is green to brown depending on variety. The flesh is translucent, juicy and depending on the variety, light to dark green. The fruit axis is cream colored and fleshy. The numerous carpels appear in cross section radiating light, between them they often sit in small dark seeds. Seed number and fruit size depend heavily on each other, which is why a good fertilization rate for the yield is important.

Name

The name for this Kiwi fruit was invented market strategy considerations in 1959 in New Zealand and is derived from the kiwi bird.

In North America and German-speaking countries, the fruit is often called "Kiwi", in contrast to most other English speaking countries where the fruit kiwi fruit ( " Kiwi " ) is called. The use of the name " Kiwi" can lead to confusion with the inhabitants of New Zealand whose nickname is also "Kiwi". The term " kiwi " was not protected, and it was used soon cultivated for outside New Zealand Kiwis. The cultivated in New Zealand Kiwis are currently sold under the brand name Zespri from the same marketing organization.

Ingredients

Kiwis contain per 100 g of fruit about 71 mg of vitamin C. They also contain the proteolytic enzyme Actinidain, but which is destroyed by cooking. Raw Kiwis do not get along with dairy products - the food is bitter after a few minutes when the fruit is added to raw because the enzyme in the fruit decomposes the milk protein. Here, bitter-tasting peptides that otherwise occur only when bacterial spoilage form. Remedied short steaming with a little sugar and water or juice. On the other hand, crude Kiwis a good dessert for protein-rich meals, because the enzyme facilitates the digestion of proteins.

Source: EU Nutrition Labelling Directive (EU NWKRL 90/496/EEC ) and Rewe Nutritional table

Source: EU Nutrition Labelling Directive (EU NWKRL 90/496/EEC )

Cultivation

The fruits are originally from southern China. The teacher, Mary Isabel Fraser imported the first seeds from a mission in Yichang in Jangtsekiangtal in January 1904 to New Zealand. The gardener Alexander Allison planted them on his land south of Wanganui, where the plants bore fruit in 1910 for the first time on New Zealand soil. The horticultural scientist Hayward Wright bred from these first Chinese gooseberry plants mentioned for the first time the commercial cultivar ' Hayward ', which accounts for the majority of traded kiwifruit even today. In 1950 they were first cultivated in the Bay of Plenty and soon exported it to Europe and North America.

Italy is the leading producer of kiwifruit, followed by New Zealand, Chile, France, Greece and Japan. In China and Taiwan kiwis are grown as before, China has so far not managed to catch up with the top ten producers of this fruit. Kiwis are grown there mainly in the mountainous region of Changjiang and Sichuan.

In the Italian provinces of Rome and Latina is the kiwi fruit with Designation of Origin IGP protected as Kiwi Latina.

Systematics and species

Actinidia deliciosa was only in 1984 described as an independent species, previously it was regarded as a variety of Actinidia chinensis.

Important female varieties are ' Bruno ', ' Abbott ', ' Allison ' and ' Monty '. The most important, with around 80 percent of world production is, however, ' Hayward ', which is characterized by Großfrüchtigkeit, good taste and long shelf life, while their profitability is lower than in other varieties. The variety introduced in 1989 ' Top Star Vantini ' from Italy is the first hairless variety.

The variety ' Kiwi Gold' (trade name Zespri Gold) belongs to the species Actinidia chinensis.

Pictures

Kiwifruit, peeled and sliced

Kiwi before flowering

Almost open Kiwiblüte

Male flowers

Female flowers

Kiwi shrubs on a plantation

Close-up of fruit surface