Kiwi is a fruit of ovoid shape, of variable size and covered with a brown fuzzy thin skin. It measures between 4 and 7.5cm long and 3.5 to 5cm wide and the weight oscillates between 30 and150g depending on the variety, the climatic conditions and the planting system. The flesh may be of different tonalities of green according to the variety, tender, juicy and bittersweet. It has multiple small black edible seeds. The colour of the pulp and its delicate taste resembles that of the grape, the strawberry and the pineapple, and this makes it a very pleasant fruit.

Diverse scientific investigations indicate that the kiwi is an outstanding source of vitamins, minerals, fibre and phytochemicals. The kiwi fruit has an exceptionally high concentration of vitamin C. A medium-sized fruit provides approximately with 90 mg of vitamin C, which fully surpasses the recommended daily consumption recommended of approximately 60 mg.

The kiwifruit is a fruit of ovoid shape, of variable size and covered by a thin, brown, slightly hairy skin. It may be 4 to 7.5cm long, and 3.5 to 5cm wide. The weight ranges from 30 to150g, according to variety, climatic conditions, and the culture system. The pulp may be of different green tonalities according to the variety. It is also tender, juicy and bittersweet in flavour. It presents numerous small, edible black seeds. The colour of the pulp and the delicate flavour, somehow reminiscent of the grape, strawberry, and pineapple, make kiwifruit very pleasant.

Kiwi is consumed as fresh fruit, in fruit salads, salads or as garnish for different dishes. In order to consume it as fruit, it can be peeled or cut in half and eaten with a spoon. It contains an enzyme called actinidine that degrades proteins, reason why this fruit is used to soften the meat before cooking and thus reduce to the time for baking, rubbing the pulp of the fruit. Moreover, the actinidine prevents the coagulation of the jelly and it is the responsible of the bitter taste of some dairy products when they are mixed with kiwi. Kiwis are also cooked, tossed with butter, used as a bittersweet sauce or included as garnish for meat dishes. Jam, sherbets, iced drinks, confectionery products and liquors with or without alcohol are also made of this fruit.
Kiwis represent an excellent source of vitamin C, almost twice the content of some citruses. They are also rich in minerals like potassium, iron and calcium.

Kiwis are found all the year round because the different producing country take over the harvesting periods of each other: from mid May until the end of November, in New Zealand; the rest of the year in the Mediterranean countries, Chile and in California and Australia too. It is a product that has undergone a commercial development in the last few years, thanks to an excellent marketing campaign carried out by New Zealand, an example of how to present " a new product’.

Kiwis may last up to 6 months and their maturation is slow, at environmental temperature, although we accelerate it if we store them together with apples or bananas, that give off ethylene; however, we must avoid their contact if we want to slow down the maturation process and thus extend the period of preservation. Kiwi is a climacteric fruit whose intensity of transpiration is influenced and correlated to the presence of ethylene in the environment or that of endogenous origin.

The Chinese gooseberry is a creeping plant consisting of heart-shaped leaves whose lower surface is covered with down and large cream white flowers.

It is a climbing plant distinguished for the beauty of its foliage. It belongs to the species Actinidia chinensis or A. deliciosa.

The Chinese gooseberry is an extremely vigorous flexible cane, whose branches may grow 3m a year. It tends to roll up to the plant supports, resembling the trellised vine.

The leaves are deciduous, consist of a heart-shaped limb, with sawed edges and more or less long petiole according to the variety. The upper side is darker than the lower surface and almost hairless, whereas the lower surface is covered with a great amount of hair.

The roots are fleshy, rich in reserve substances, although they usually grow in the superficial layers since they need oxygen.

The flowers are of a cream white colour, rather large, physiologically dioecious, that is to say, as if the masculine and the feminine flowers were in separated rootstocks, but they are apparently hermaphrodite, since all the flowers have an ovary and stamina. However, in the masculine plants the ovary is sterile, small and non-functional, whereas in the feminine ones the pollen is infertile. The peduncles are long and each flower has normally 5 sepals and 5 petals.

The fruit is a berry of ovoid shape with a greenish-brown epidermis covered with short but abundant brown hair. The pulp is of an emerald green colour and has multiple small seeds. In the centre of the fruit we find the columella, of a cream white colour, with a slender shape, extending along the maximum length of the fruit; it is also edible when ripe.