Kiwi

Kiwi bokeh
Originally uploaded by borealnz

At this time of the year here in NZ, Kiwifruit are cheap and plentiful in our shops and I usually come home with a large bag full. Our family prefers the golden variety which you can see in the photo, the skin is thinner and less hairy and the flesh is sweeter and I think has a nicer texture.

They are a far cry from the kiwifruit which my parents attempted to grow in Central Otago where growing fruit like this was very marginal in the first place due to the harsh winters. The plants grew on the inside north facing wall of an old roofless glasshouse, initially there was one vine which was a female and as you need a pollinator there were no fruit. A male was duly planted and we were finally able to harvest several small, tough, very acidic kiwifruit (which we knew as Chinese Gooseberries back then) depending on how frost free the season was of course.

The family farm has been sold but I am willing to bet that those Kiwi vines are still thriving and putting out a thicket of new growth every year and maybe even producing the occasional fruit.