Taste test: Hardy Kiwi

Thursday, September 27, 2007

For many years I’ve been seeing the Hardy Kiwi in various gardening magazines, promising that it would happily grow for us here in the Northeast.  ‘Kiwis?’ I thought. “Here in Pennsylvania?  That’s just crazy talk!’

And so I didn’t give it a second thought.

Today, though, I was at the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market where, lo and behold, there were a few quarts of these teeny tiny little green fruits being sold off.  The nice lady who works the stand gave me a taste.  Shockingly, they really do taste just like tropical kiwi.  The outside skin is smooth and shiny, rather than furry.  But inside is the same old kiwi look and taste.

As a rule, I’m not a huge eater of kiwi and mostly just bought them for the novelty.  I’m thinking, though, that I might try a little jam experiment this weekend...using these kiwi fruit and a different fruit I plan to forage from my backyard.  It might be interesting.