Resembling something more like green grapes with thicker and darker skin, the kiwiberry may be one of the healthiest and most underrated fruits around. It’s also ancient, dating back more than 20 million years. But until the last century or so, they weren’t even considered a valuable fruit – instead, their ornamental vines and flowers were the selling point.
New Atlas
I was personally unaware of their existence (even as a half-New Zealander) until about five days ago, when I came across a stack of plastic containers of these small green football-shaped things next to blueberries and strawberries in a Taipei grocery store. They were also marked as imports from New Zealand, though much like its larger cousin we’re more familiar with, this is where things get a bit fuzzy.
While fossil evidence shows the plant or direct ancestors have existed in Far East Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Korea for at least 25 million years, it took until the 1800s for the mini-kiwi to be recognized outside of Asia – when it was first described by botanists Philipp Franz von Siebold and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini in 1843. And thus, Actinidia arguta was the scientific name that was settled on.
The kiwiberry is in the Actinidia genus, which is a diverse group in eastern China but endemically rare in the US. Some reports cite the genus going extinct in the US around 80 million years ago due to climate shifts, but it’s hard to find robust evidence of this. But the kiwiberry is back – in some areas as a nuisance and some as a commercially viable fruit crop.
“Hardy kiwi is capable of rapid growth and can form dense stands which block sunlight and smother native vegetation, possibly causing serious alterations in the natural communities it invades,” noted Long Island’s Invasive Species Management. “A number of sites throughout Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey demonstrate the species potential to degrade and alter habitat, creating large homogeneous ‘vinelands.’ However, research is lacking on the species reproductive capability and ability to establish populations away from cultivation.”
As such the plant is still largely considered a pest in many parts of the world it is able to grow naturally, outcompeting native species for resources (which also highlight its adaptability).
Schurdl/Wikimedia Commons
But something that makes this tiny kiwi unique is that it existed completely independent of its bigger relatives – it neither shrunk in nature nor in the lab by selective breeding or genetic engineering. Unlike the trend of creating smaller versions of known fruits and vegetables – mini watermelons, even CRISPR-edited berries – to make them more appealing in the “snackable” market, the kiwiberry is actually part of its own ancient lineage. How we know this is a little long-winded, but basically the morphological leap in size and cover (or skin) of the fleshy fruit protecting the seeds are those of “botanical cousins,” not evolutionary products. This is because A. arguta has wildly adapted to colder environments – hence its hardy nickname – while the several kiwi species we know best (the green A. deliciosa and the golden A. chinensis) have existed largely as a commercial crop for close to 100 years.
As a 2020 study noted, A. arguta has traduitionaly been valued as ornamental vine and of use in traditional medicine – until the last decade, with growing interest in its commercial potential especially in Europe and North America. The University of Minnesota has a theory on how the plant ended up back in the US, too, theorizing that someone from the Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC, now the University of Massachusetts) brought seeds back from the forests near Sapporo, Japan in 1876.
So why the fuss? Well, scientists are only now unraveling the true health benefits of the the tiny kiwi – with many properties more impressive than its larger cousins. What we know so far is that the kiwiberry is a valuable source of bioactive compounds: “antioxidant, neuroprotective, anticholinergic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antiobesity as well as antiatherosclerotic” properties in a handful of papers, including this one published in November last year.
“This review includes a concise characterization of A. arguta and updates the current field of knowledge about its diverse biological activities, which are undoubtedly related to the content of bioactive components and the methods used for their isolation and analysis,” the researchers noted. “The information included in this review paper will be helpful in perceiving mini kiwi not only as a tasty fruit but also as a source of bioactive ingredients with beneficial, health-promoting effects on the body. Effective isolation of these components can contribute to the future development of antiaging and anticancer drugs, which undoubtedly will lead to further research and promote this species.”
New Atlas
So, while scientists rush to study the fruit’s health properties, growers are focused on turning the kiwiberry into a commercial success – the late 1990s brought the first crops – in the US state of Oregon, no less. This piqued other nations’ interest in commercializing the fruit and New Zealand, Chile, Italy, France and Switzerland got on board. At the turn of the century, China and South Korea had a revived interest in the fruit, and the invasive “hardy kiwi” vine was rebranded as the kiwiberry in the 2010s.
What’s more, because the skin is eaten, research from way back in 2015 found that the smaller fruit has 10 times more phenolics, 13 times more flavonoids and 10 times more vitamin C than the inside flesh. This is important as, while you don’t have to peel a large fuzzy kiwi, it’s not that common outside of New Zealand to eat the skin. And by peeling it, you’re missing out on so much nutritional value. The kiwiberry, meanwhile, is a whole lot more textually palatable. That said, there are challenges with the fruit‘s uneven ripening window, shelf life and sensitivity to bruising. But of course researchers are working on this.
Studies are still underway to confirm their anti-inflammatory properties and potential to counter type-2 diabetes. So, watch this space, but we highly recommend taking a deep dive into the history of this plant that may finally have found its moment of fame after millions of years growing quietly in the wild and embraced by humans for its decorative qualities.
For more, we’ll let this eloquent fruit-market employee have the last word on this elusive “new” fruit.
Meet Kiwi Berries: Nature’s Bite-Sized Superfruit
While they’re out of season right now in the US, we’d love to know if you’ve tried them before – or when you do.