Carolina Kiwis: In the Heart of Kiwi Country!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Although we've driven by it many times on the way to Whakatane, Rotorua, and Lake Taupo, today we finally decided to check out the "kiwi capital of the world" (that's fruit, not birds...or people - sometimes even Kiwis get confused). Just outside the cute little town of Te Puke ["teh-pook-eh"], which you fans of The Amazing Race should recognize, is the "giant kiwifruit", basically an iconic roadside sign that marks the entrance to Kiwi 360, where you can learn all you ever wanted to know (and more) about kiwifruit.

There was a tour departing as soon as we got there, so we quickly hopped on the KiwiKart for the trip around the grounds. They grow a dizzying variety of fruit at Kiwi 360, but except for the kiwifruit it looked to be mostly for show, as the other orchards were pretty tiny. They had oranges, grapefruit, persimmons, peaches, nectarines, lemons, limes, and a few local ones including Mark's newest favorite, the feijoa. It's harvest time for both feijoas and kiwis, so we're inundated with both at home from friends and coworkers trying to unload their surplus. You can't get feijoas in the States because their shelf life is like a week, so they're not exported, but nearly every grandma with a garden in NZ has a feijoa tree. High-quality kiwis, on the other hand, have a shelf life approaching a year if properly chilled. Americans are used to green kiwis, but they also grow golden kiwis here, which are sweeter and less tart.

Golden kiwis on the vine. Someone remarked they look like testicles

Ro & friends riding the KiwiKart

The KiwiKart tour was interesting if you're into Kiwis bragging about their kiwis. They claim a study from Rutgers University back in the late 80's determined that kiwis are the healthiest fruit you can eat, in terms of nutritional benefit to humans. The tour paused in the orchard so we could get out and walk under the vines (kiwis don't grow on trees), then we walked over to the packing house, a true marvel of engineering where the kiwis are sized, graded, sorted, and packed with incredible efficiency. The migrant worker population (mostly Malaysians, Pacific Islanders, housewives and backpackers) in this area swells by about 25,000 people in the April and May picking season.

Ro & Mark checking out the kiwi packing house

See link: http://www.kiwi360.com/

After the tour, we explored the Kiwi 360 grounds on foot; the area is actually a very beautifully landscaped garden, complete with a duck pond with an island in it containing a huge relief map of NZ. Apparently they have weddings here quite frequently. We soon reached the playground Ro had seen from the KiwiKart. There was a BIG slide, a castle containing fun-house mirrors, and a big dragon-themed maze that took probably 20 minutes to find our way through. The interior of the castle was painted with themes from various countries. For instance, one wall portrayed the mountains of Switzerland with a caricature of a friendly piece of Swiss cheese conversing with a smiling kiwifruit, another had a bunch of grapes drinking wine with a kiwifruit in front of the Eiffel Tower. And America's image? None other than a hot dog (on Rollerblades mind you) in front of the White House. Is that really our contribution to the world's cuisine? The hot dog?

Giant kiwi on the grounds, playground in background

"Whoah!"

The world's view of America

Sherry & Ro sliding through the giant pumpkin

Ro playing on the dragon's head, maze in background

We got back to the main Kiwi 360 complex looking for a late lunch, but they had just closed the cafe kitchen, so we got kiwi ice cream instead. Basically, it was just vanilla with big chunks of kiwi in it - very tasty, and you could easily make it at home. We stopped by the big kiwi sign last, and it turns out you can go up inside it for a nice view of the grounds. We were all famished when we got home, so Mark took Ro to the "hot pools" downstairs to keep him busy while Sherry made dinner.