07/24/07 Kiwi Fruit Part 1

Little, brown, fuzzy and delicious. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. I remember the first time I saw a kiwifruit. I kept waiting for it to move. Then someone said it was really good to eat and I'm sure I laughed out loud. Eventually I braved the first tentative bite and have been hooked ever since. The California Kiwifruit Commission deals with the image of kiwifruit everyday. LAFRANCIS: A lot of people are afraid of kind of that round, fuzzy brown thing and don't know what to do with it. Lindy LaFrancis is the President of the commission. LAFRANCIS: Kiwifruit itself has a lot of stories to tell. First, it's the most nutrient dense fruit. A study done in 1999 by Rutgers University tested the top 27 consumed fruit in the world and kiwifruit was found to have bite for bite, more nutrition than any other fruit. It's got as much Vitamin C as an orange, as much potassium as a banana, it's got lutein in it from the green color that helps your eyes, it's high in fiber, it's got lots of anti-oxidants. So exactly how do you handle eating that little, brown, fuzzy thing? LAFRANCIS: The easiest way is what we call slooping the kiwi which is to just cut it in half and scoop it out. So slice and scoop and it's real easy to eat. The California Kiwifruit Commission even has a neat utensil called a slooper available by request through their website at kiwifruit.org. Tomorrow more about the kiwi. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.