Question #35294. Asked by Nay.
Last updated Aug 22 2016.
mk2norwich
Answer has 3 votes
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mk2norwich
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Currently voted the best answer.
Mostly New Zealand. Also called Kiwi fruits.
Jun 08 2003, 3:00 PM
KIWI IN OZ
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KIWI IN OZ 22 year member
196 replies
Answer has 3 votes.
originally China. they came to NZ with the gold miners and it would seem almost became extinct in China. After they were renamed Kiwi Fruit for commercial reasons NZ sent live plants back to China for re establishment in the country of origin.
Jun 30 2003, 3:14 AM
zorba_scank
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zorba_scank Moderator 21 year member
149 replies
Answer has 3 votes.
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. People thought the fruit had a gooseberry flavour and began to call it the Chinese gooseberry. 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 leading to the name kiwifruit.