Chun'an Kiwifruit

Chun'an Kiwifruit

　　Product origin: Chun'an, Hangzhou

　　Product characteristics: Juicy, delicious, fragrant and sweet in taste.

　　Product category: Classified by flesh color into yellow-fleshed, green-fleshed, and intermediate yellow-green types, with the yellow-fleshed type being the best.

　　Product components: Contains more than ten kinds of amino acids such as leucine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, tyrosine, valine, and alanine, as well as rich minerals.

　　Product benefits: Plays an important role in maintaining human health and preventing and treating diseases. Eating more kiwifruit can help prevent osteoporosis in the elderly; inhibit cholesterol deposition on the inner walls of arteries, thereby preventing arteriosclerosis; improve myocardial function and prevent heart disease, among other benefits. In terms of cancer prevention, it helps inhibit the mutagenic effects of nitrosamines in the intestines on tissues.

　　Product introduction: According to the “Chun’an County Annals”: “It grows as vines with leaves like kudzu, fruits the size of chicken eggs, and green-colored skin.” Chun'an kiwifruit is mainly distributed in towns such as Tongshan, Baima, Shangfang, and Anyang, also known as yangli, tengli, zhima li, and huta. The plant is vining. Young branches and the lower surfaces of leaves are densely covered with brown or bristly hairs; older branches are reddish-brown, smooth and hairless. Leaves are alternate—broadly ovate to elliptical on vegetative branches; nearly round on flowering branches, 6–17 cm long and 5–13 cm wide, with fine, pointed serrations on the edges. The upper surface usually has sparse hairs only along the veins, while the lower surface is gray-white and densely covered with stellate fuzz. Flowers usually grow in clusters of 3–6 as axillary cymes, with a few growing singly. They start off milky white, then turn orange-yellow, and are fragrant; numerous stamens; superior ovary. The berry is oval or nearly spherical. Flowering period is April to June, fruiting period August to October. Chun'an kiwifruit is mostly wild-grown and is a trendy fruit today. Not only does it have a delicious taste, but it also offers beauty-enhancing benefits.

　　Product history: Kiwifruit gets its name because it is favored by monkeys. It has a long history of use in China, with the earliest record found in the over 2,000-year-old text “Erya”. Later dynasties, such as the Song Dynasty’s “Bencao Yan Yi”, the Ming Dynasty’s “Bencao Gangmu”, and the Qing Dynasty’s “Zhiwu Mingshi Tukao” all documented it. Unfortunately, kiwifruit remained in the wild for a long time. It wasn’t until after the reform and opening-up period that cultivation and breeding received significant attention.