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Kiwi: How New Zealand hijacked China's fruit

Kiwi: How New Zealand hijacked China's fruit

How the Chinese gooseberry became the kiwi and one of New Zealand’s biggest exports

Witness History · BBC World Service

December 26, 20238m 59s

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Show Notes

The kiwi fruit is synonymous with New Zealand in the minds of most European and American shoppers.

But the hairy fruit actually comes from China and was once known as the Chinese gooseberry.

So how did New Zealand hijack a Chinese fruit and turn it into their biggest horticultural export?

Former fruit exporter Don Turner tells Vicky Farncombe how his family named the kiwi fruit in the 1950s and created a global industry.