Kiwis Healthy Food Guide

Recipe shown above: Tropical Fruit in Spiced Syrup

Someone once threw me a small, brown, hairy kiwi fruit, and I threw a wastebasket over it until it was dead.

—Erma Bombeck

Hear “kiwi” and you think “New Zealand,” but the fresh kiwifruits you are seeing in markets now have most likely been picked in California or Italy, among the world’s largest producers.

The kiwifruit is no green monster: bursting with antioxidants and chock-full of fiber, kiwifruits work to protect against free-radical damage. A study from Rutgers University compared 27 of the most popular fruits, determining that the kiwifruit is the most nutritionally dense of them all.

One tangy-sweet kiwi supplies a full day’s dose of vitamin C, plus good amounts of potassium, a mineral linked with healthy blood pressure. Plus, kiwi contains more vitamin E, an antioxidant, and more lutein, a nutrient connected with protecting your vision, than almost every other fruit or vegetable—for only 50 calories. Enjoy a kiwi unadorned: simply cut it in half and scoop with a spoon (no peeling needed!) or use it in these delicious recipes.

Tips

Fun Fact

First cultivated in China, kiwis were known as Chinese gooseberries until New Zealand began exporting them in the 1950s and they were renamed after New Zealand’s national bird.