Chinese gooseberry becomes kiwifruit
15 June 1959 The prominent produce company Turners and Growers announced that it would from now on export Chinese gooseberries as ‘kiwifruit’. Introduced to this country in 1904, kiwifruit are now cultivated worldwide, with New Zealand-grown fruit marketed as ‘Zespri’.
Despite the name, kiwifruit are not native to New Zealand. Seeds were brought to New Zealand in 1904 by Mary Isabel Fraser, the principal of Wanganui Girls’ College, who had been visiting mission schools in China. They were planted in 1906 by a Whanganui nurseryman, Alexander Allison, and the vines first fruited in 1910. People thought the fruit had a gooseberry flavour and began to call it the Chinese gooseberry. It is not related to the Grossulariaceae family to which gooseberries belong.

▲sungold vine

1959年6月15日，著名的農(nóng)產(chǎn)品公司Turners and Growers宣布，從現(xiàn)在起，它將把中國的獼猴桃作為“獼猴桃”出口。獼猴桃于1904年引入新西蘭，現(xiàn)在在全世界種植，新西蘭種植的水果被稱為“Zespri”。

盡管有獼猴桃的名字，但它并不是新西蘭本土的。1904年，旺加努伊女子學(xué)院校長瑪麗·伊莎貝爾·弗雷澤（Mary Isabel Fraser）將種子帶到了新西蘭，當(dāng)時她正在中國參觀教會學(xué)校。1906年，沃加努伊苗圃主亞歷山大·艾利森種植了這種葡萄，1910年首次結(jié)出果實。人們認為這種水果有醋栗的味道，于是開始叫它中國醋栗。它與醋栗所屬的羅漢果科沒有親緣關(guān)系。

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▲Kiwi sapling▲

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New Zealand began exporting the fruit to the US in the 1950s. This was the height of the Cold War and the term Chinese gooseberry was a marketing nightmare for Turners and Growers. Their first idea, ‘melonettes’, was equally unpopular with US importers because melons and berries were subject to high import tariffs. In June 1959, Jack Turner suggested the name kiwifruit during a Turners and Growers management meeting in Auckland. His idea was adopted and this later became the industry-wide name.

新西蘭從20世紀50年代開始向美國出口這種水果。這是冷戰(zhàn)的巔峰時期，中國獼猴桃這個詞對特納和種植者來說是一場營銷噩夢。他們的第一個想法“Melonetes”同樣不受美國進口商歡迎，因為西瓜和漿果需要繳納高額進口關(guān)稅。1959年6月，杰克·特納在奧克蘭的一次特納和種植者管理會議上提出了獼猴桃的名字。他的想法被采納，這后來成為全行業(yè)的名稱。

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▲Kiwi seedlings▲

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▲Golden kiwifruit▲

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