Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry (), is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa 'Hayward') is oval, about the size of a large hen's egg: in length and in diameter. Kiwifruit has a thin, fuzzy, fibrous, light brown skin that is tart but edible, and light green or golden flesh that contains rows of tiny black edible seeds. The fruit has a soft texture with a sweet, sour and unique flavour.
Kiwifruit is native to central and eastern China, with the first recorded description dating back to the 12th century during the Song dynasty. In the early 20th century, cultivation of kiwifruit spread from China to New Zealand, where the first commercial plantings took place. It gained popularity among British and American servicemen stationed in New Zealand during World War II, and later became commonly exported, first to the United Kingdom and Australia from 1953, followed by California in 1959.
From the late 20th century, countries beyond New Zealand initiated independent kiwifruit breeding programmes, including China and Italy. As of 2023, China accounted for 55% of the world's total kiwifruit production, making it the largest global producer.
Etymology In 1959, Turners & Growers, a major New Zealand exporter, began using the name "kiwifruit" after being advised by a United States client, Norman Sondag, that products with the name Chinese gooseberry may have been having difficulty passing through quarantine. Sondag believed that quarantine officials were more suspicious of European gooseberries and other berry shipments, due to fears that berries that were grown closer to the ground could come into contact with soil contaminated with anthrax-causing Bacillus anthracis, something that was not an issue with kiwifruit. The name kiwifruit was coined by Jack Turner of Turners & Growers, referencing kiwi, an informal name used to describe New Zealanders, which Turner felt that American servicemen stationed in the Pacific during World War II would prefer. The name was first registered by Turners & Growers on 15 June 1959, and by 1970, all exports from New Zealand used the name kiwifruit.
Kiwifruit eventually became a common name for all commercially grown kiwifruit from the genus Actinidia. In the United States and Canada, the shortened name kiwi is commonly used when referring to the fruit.
Numerous myths are associated with the naming of kiwifruit, including that it is a reference to New Zealand's furry, brown, national bird – the kiwi, or that the name Chinese gooseberry was replaced in response to anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. In New Zealand and Australia, the word kiwi alone either refers to the bird or is used as a nickname for New Zealanders.
History
Kiwifruit is native to central and eastern China. The first identifiable description of a plant as Actinidia chinensis is from a Tang dynasty poem by Cen Shen, which describes a mihoutao plant growing above a well in modern-day Shaanxi. The first recorded description of the kiwifruit dates to 12th century China during the Song dynasty. As it was usually collected from the wild and consumed for presumed purposes in folk medicine, the plant was rarely cultivated or bred.
Common Chinese names for the fruit prior to the 20th century include (, ), (, ), (, ) and (, ). Among the early English language names for the fruit were yangtao, the name that was in popular use in the Yangtze River valley areas of central China, Wilson's gooseberry (after British plant collector Ernest Henry Wilson), gooseberry vine, and Ichang gooseberry, the latter referring to Yichang, a port city in Hubei province. The first known reference to the name Chinese gooseberry came from 1917 in New Zealand, but it is likely that the name was in use before this time. By the 1920s, Chinese gooseberry became the standard name for the fruit in English until the 1950s. In modern-day Chinese, the fruit is often referred to as (), a transliteration from English.
Cultivation of Chinese gooseberries spread from China in the early 20th century to New Zealand, where the first commercial plantings occurred. After the Hayward variety was developed, the fruit was consumed by British and American servicemen stationed in New Zealand during World War II. Kiwifruits were exported to Great Britain and Australia from 1953, and then to California from 1959.
In New Zealand during the 1940s and 1950s, the fruit became an agricultural commodity through the development of commercially viable cultivars, agricultural practices, shipping, storage, and marketing. During this time, the name kiwifruit was adopted by New Zealand exporters.
In the 1970s, New Zealand's kiwifruit industry experienced significant growth. To support this expansion, the Kiwifruit Export Promotion Committee was established in 1970 to coordinate marketing efforts and later, in 1977, the Kiwifruit Marketing Licensing Authority was formed to set market standards and advise the government, giving growers some control over licensing exporters. The New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board was later renamed Zespri International Limited in 1997. This rebranding marked a strategic move to enhance global recognition and market presence.
In 1978, China established the National Cooperative Group for Kiwifruit Research, launching a nationwide survey of wild Actinidia germplasm. This effort led to the selection of over 1,400 candidate cultivars. By the early 1980s, China began cultivating kiwifruit commercially, initially planting less than one hectare with the 'Hayward' cultivar from New Zealand. Over the following decades, China's kiwifruit industry expanded significantly, and by 2020, 'Hayward' accounted for only 6.3% of total plantings, as domestically bred cultivars gained prominence.
Among these are 'Hongyang', a red-fleshed kiwifruit selected in Sichuan from seedlings raised from wild-collected seeds, 'Jinyan', a yellow-fleshed variety, and 'Donghong', another red-fleshed cultivar, also known as Oriental Red.
The Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) plays a key role in China's kiwifruit conservation and breeding. It houses the world's largest kiwifruit gene bank, with 73 validated or protected varieties and 426 high-quality strains, including Donghong, Jinyan, and Jintao. In 2001, it sold exclusive breeding rights for Jintao to the Italian company Jingold, and in 2012, a collaboration with Jingold resulted in the development and patenting of the Jinyan and Donghong cultivars.
Species and cultivars
The genus Actinidia comprises around 60 species. Their fruits are quite variable, although most are easily recognised as kiwifruit because of their appearance and shape. The skin of the fruit varies in size, hairiness, and colour. The flesh varies in colour, juiciness, texture, and taste. Some fruits are unpalatable, while others taste considerably better than most commercial cultivars.
The most commonly sold kiwifruit is derived from Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa (fuzzy green kiwifruit) and A. chinensis var. chinensis (golden and red kiwifruit). Other species that are commonly eaten include A. arguta (hardy kiwifruit, also known as kiwiberries), A. rubricaulis var. coriacea (Chinese egg gooseberry), A. kolomikta (Arctic kiwifruit), A. melanandra (purple kiwifruit) and A. polygama (silver vine). Some commercial cultivars are hybrids, such as 'Jinyan', which is a hybrid of A. eriantha and A. chinensis var. chinensis, and 'Issai', a hybrid of A. arguta and A. polygama, known for having relative large fruit, the ability to self-pollinate, and being less hardy than most A. arguta.
Fuzzy kiwifruit
Most kiwifruit sold belongs to a few cultivars of Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa (fuzzy kiwifruit): 'Hayward', 'Blake' and 'Saanichton 12'. They have a fuzzy, dull brown skin and bright green flesh. The familiar cultivar 'Hayward' was developed by Hayward Wright in Avondale, New Zealand, around 1924. It was initially grown in domestic gardens, but commercial planting began in the 1940s.
'Hayward' is the most commonly available cultivar in stores. It is a large, egg-shaped fruit with a sweet flavour. 'Saanichton 12', from British Columbia, is somewhat more rectangular than 'Hayward' and comparably sweet, but the inner core of the fruit can be tough. 'Blake' can self-pollinate, but has a smaller, more oval fruit, and the flavour is considered inferior.
Kiwiberries Kiwiberries are edible fruits the size of a large grape, similar to fuzzy kiwifruit in taste and internal appearance but with a thin, smooth green skin. They are primarily produced by three species: Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi), A. kolomikta (Arctic kiwifruit) and A. polygama (silver vine). They are fast-growing, climbing vines, durable over their growing season. They are referred to as kiwi berry, baby kiwi, dessert kiwi, grape kiwi, or cocktail kiwi. Some kiwiberries may require harvesting after a frost, known as bletting, in order to soften.
Gold kiwifruit
The gold kiwifruit, also known as the yellow kiwi or golden kiwifruit, has smooth, bronze skin, with a beak shape at the stem attachment. Gold varieties are typically cultivars of Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis. The flesh colour varies from bright green to a clear, intense yellow. This species is 'sweeter and more aromatic' in flavour compared to Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa. One of the most attractive varieties has a red 'iris' around the centre of the fruit and yellow flesh outside. The yellow fruit obtains a higher market price and, being less hairy than the fuzzy kiwifruit, tastes better without peeling.
Hort16A is a golden kiwifruit cultivar developed by HortResearch, now Plant & Food Research Institute, during the 1980s and 90s. It is marketed worldwide as Zespri Gold. This cultivar suffered significant losses in New Zealand in 2010–2013 due to the PSA bacterium. A new cultivar of golden kiwifruit, Gold3, was found to be more disease-resistant, and most growers have now changed to this cultivar. 'Gold3', marketed by Zespri as SunGold is not quite as sweet as 'Hort16A', and lacks its usually slightly pointed tip. Clones of the new variety SunGold have been used to develop orchards in China, resulting in partially successful legal efforts in China by Zespri to protect their intellectual property. In 2021, Zespri estimated that around 5,000 hectares of Sungold orchards were being cultivated in China, mainly in the Sichuan province.
Jintao is a variety of golden kiwifruit developed in China from wild Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis vines. Created in the 1980s by researchers at the Wuhan Botanical Garden, it was introduced to Europe for evaluation in 1998 through an EU-funded project (INCO-DC). Between 1998 and 2000, it was evaluated in collaboration with institutions such as I.N.R.A. in Bordeaux (France), the University of Thessaloniki (Greece), and the University of Udine (Italy). Jintao was later released to European kiwifruit growers for commercial propagation in 2001. In the same year, exclusive breeding rights for the variety were sold to the Italian company Jingold, and production subsequently expanded to multiple locations across Portugal, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa over the following two decades.
Red kiwifruit
Red kiwifruits are cultivars of Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis, distinguished by their red coloured flesh. Its origin can be traced back to China from a natural mutation of gold kiwifruit found in the wild in 1982, which became the Hongyang variety, China's first commercially viable red kiwifruit cultivar. By 2020, Hongyang became the most grown kiwifruit cultivar in China across all types and varieties.