Britons buy red fleshed kiwifruit

As New Zealand scientists evaluate a new range of kiwifruit types and colours, Britons can now buy red fleshed kiwifruit.

The new variety is the same size as green kiwifruit but smooth on the outside and with a red centre.

A British kiwifruit supplier heard about the red kiwifruit growing in central China while on a trip to Asia, and the British Tesco supermarket chain is now about to start selling the fruit.

In New Zealand, scientists are researching variations on orange, yellow, purple or red-flecked flesh.

Plants from which breeding selections are being made include vines producing fruit with hairless green or bright yellow skins and varying from bite-sized morsels to one that resembles a cucumber.

One of the most recent hybrids for which HortResearch scientists have high hopes is yellow-fleshed with a red-flecked centre.

Crosses with the ordinary green kiwifruit, actinidia deliciosa, have produced hybrids with comparatively large fruit with a green hairless skin, and crosses with actinidia melanandra produced large crops of small but sweet fruit with good flavour and, on some vines, red flesh.

- NZPA