Now, kiwifruit is very highly regarded in China, as can be seen from some simple statistics - China has the largest production of kiwifruit in the world, and nearly half of the cultivated area is in China.
Although the kiwifruit industry in China is very hot, you may have heard of New Zealand kiwifruit before you came into contact with kiwifruit, so you may think that kiwifruit is a foreign product.
Actually,Kiwifruit is an overseas artificially cultivated variety of kiwifruitThere are many similar varieties, and these different varieties are not only similar in appearance, but also basically no different in nutritional content.
And kiwi is a native Chinese fruit, it originated in China, and this time the Koreans can't grab it, because it has been certified.
The reason why you first heard about New Zealand kiwifruit is because kiwifruit is a fruit that has been domesticated for a very short time, and it was New Zealand that first domesticated and sold it to the world.
Caption: Wild kiwi.
The origin of the kiwi
Now kiwifruit has obviously become a bulk fruit like apples, plums, and grapes, and the relationship has been fully formed large-scale and industrialized.
However, it is only in the last 50 years that kiwifruit has really been known and recognized by the public.
The origin of kiwifruit is Yichang City, Hubei Province, where the wild resources of kiwifruit are very abundant, butThis plant is dioeciousSo it will be different from ordinary fruits in terms of cultivation technology.
In the past, the knowledge level of the Chinese people was limited, so no one really tried to cultivate kiwifruit, or it was difficult to spread it to the whole country.
Caption: Kiwifruit seedlings.
It wasn't until 1904 that a New Zealand governess named Isabel Fraser brought a bag of kiwi seeds to New Zealand that the story of kiwi really began.
These seeds, nurtured by a nursery merchant, Alexander Allison, gave it the seedlings that could be planted on a large scale, and the "Hayward" we are now familiar with, as well as other overseas varieties, are basically the descendants of that bag of seeds that were brought to New Zealand.
The cultivated kiwifruit has changed both in taste and storage conditions, and it has become more suitable for becoming a popular fruit.
The name of this kiwifruit is from the kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand, which does look a bit like a kiwi.
Caption: New Zealand's national bird, the kiwi.
However, New Zealand's kiwifruit was not originally named that way, and it was not even classified as a fruit. Start it calledMelon melonHowever, due to the relatively high tax on New Zealand melons, it is not conducive to promotion to the world, so it was renamed kiwifruit.
We know that New Zealand is easily linked to the kiwi (after all, it is the national bird), so it can be said that it has its own traffic, so the merchants named this bird purely to rub the traffic.
Since the 70s of the 20th century, this fruit has a bunch of titles because of its own rich nutrition, coupled with the vigorous promotion of businessmen, what "king of fruits", "fruit of life" and other labels are pasted one after another, ** is also a rising tide, I have the impression that it used to be a high-end fruit, sold very expensive.
Now, kiwifruit is being grown in many parts of China, and it has become very close to the people, and kiwifruit freedom has finally been realized.
When there are more people who grow, the market competition will become more and more fierce, and you will eat cheaper and cheaper kiwifruit, but you may also get more and more angry the more you buy.
Kiwi falls off the altar
Many people who like to eat kiwifruit may have such an experience, and the kiwi fruit purchased on a certain ** is very cheap,After receiving the goods, it was hard, and after two weeks of ripening, it still did not become soft, and after a while, it became soft and broke directly.
I've seen a lot of people on some platforms who are indignant about this, but it's because it's picked early, and the fruit is picked and marketed before it's ripe.
Kiwi is typicalLeap fruit, which is what we call "ripening fruit", it is not ripe when it is picked, so the ones we buy are basically hard and need to be ripened with fruits such as bananas to be delicious.
Caption: Respiration Leap - Relationship between fruit growth and respiration.
This is because the leaping fruit will go through a peak period of respiration, and if it reaches this period, it will age rapidly, which is not conducive to sale and storage, so it is generally picked before the peak respiration period, and then refrigerated to reduce the respiration effect and slow down the ripening and aging.
In fact, the ripening of the fruit is controlled by the internal regulation of ethylene, and after the fruit tree begins to bear fruit, the fruit will slow down the release of ethylene to let itself slowly mature.
The whole process of non-leaping fruits is smooth and orderly, but the leaping fruit is different, it will output like crazy when the ethylene is suddenly "unlocked" at a certain time.
Kiwifruit in China generally ripen between September and October, so it is generally picked about a week before September, and then refrigerated (or reduced oxygen**) to prevent it from reaching peak breathing, which is ideally marketed.
When we buy a kiwifruit, we add some ethylene to it, and then it reaches that peak of breathing on its own, releasing ethylene like crazy to make the fruit ripen instantly.
It's a little different from our usual perception hereWe generally think that we have ripened the fruit, but in fact, it basically depends on itself to ripenCompared with the ethylene it releases itself, what we provide is only a drop in the bucket, which can only be regarded as a boost.
However, if it is too long before September, it will not work, because it will not be able to get into that peak breathing period when ethylene is released in large quantities.
The reason why the hard ones that you can buy on the market can't ripen and soften is because of this, these fruits can't ripen at all, it's not your operation problem.
So can you eat this kiwi that can't be ripened?
The answer is: it can be eaten, but its nutritional value is not high, and the taste is not good.
For kiwifruit, July to September is a critical period for it to accumulate nutrients and sugars, and many of the hard ones we buy that can't ripen are already picked in July, so you can imagine how bad it is.
Finally
The early harvesting of kiwifruit is no longer big news, even CCTV has reported on it, and it is now ordered to prohibit this behavior, because doing so is tantamount to drinking water to quench thirst.
Take kiwifruit as an example, many of the reputations have been ruined by these early harvesting merchants, and many people dare not buy kiwifruit anymore, and even call it "macaque escape".
As for why early picking, the reason is also very simple, one step slower in the shopping mall, it is easy to lose everything, and when it matures, it will also face greater competitive pressure.
In fact, not only kiwifruit, but also many fruits have similar experiences, such as durian, which was almost destroyed by "early harvesting".
A lot of the durians we eat are imported from Thailand, and Thailand's response is to be sentenced for early picking, and it is not light, which finally curbs the trend of early picking, otherwise let alone going abroad, no one in your own country will buy it.
I hope that our early kiwifruit harvesting behavior can also be curbed, after all, we are the first kiwifruit country, and many people rely on it for a living! **10,000 Fans Incentive Plan