The small, green fruit, hanging in clusters from a leafy canopy on a Paengaroa orchard may appear to have little in common with kiwifruit – until they are cut in half.

Inside each is a miniature version of its much larger green kiwifruit cousin – and there's even a red-fleshed variety.

Known as KiwiBerry, these fruit are part of the wider kiwifruit family but have a very short harvest season – from mid-February to late-March. The fruit also has a short shelf-life so is airfreighted to international markets. Trials are underway into the possibility of using sea freight to Australia.

New Zealand KiwiBerry Growers Association chairman Geoff Oliver says the delicate fruit, still a novelty for many New Zealanders, is available in fruit shops and supermarkets from February to April. 'Look for them alongside blueberries.”

There are currently 33 growers in New Zealand with about 36 hectares of KiwiBerry in production. Other growers are in the initial grafting stage or have vines that will be coming into production next year.

The fruit's botanical name is Actinidia arguta or A. arguta and the three main cultivars grown in New Zealand are Takaka Green, K2D4 and Marju Red. There are also two Plant and Food Research selections with Plant Variety Rights under evaluation. It is hoped that with the new selections it may be possible to extend the harvest season and the shelf-life.

Arguta grows wild in parts of China and is also found in north-eastern Siberia, Korea and Japan. Globally, there is thought to be less than 200 hectares planted
for commercial production.

Popular with children

The main producing countries supplying the international market are New Zealand – most orchards are in the Bay of Plenty – the United States, Canada and Chile. It is also known to be growing in Russia, China, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

KiwiBerries are very popular with children because of their sweet taste and ease of eating. They are also a hit with adults and can be used in smoothies, salads, savoury and sweet dishes, in baking, for making jam and especially for decorating pavlova.
Geoff, who has been growing the fruit for about 12 years and is a director of Kiwi Produce at Paengaroa that packs KiwiBerries for local growers, is a committed fan – despite the fact it's not an easy crop to manage.

'The vines are vigorous and by winter the canopy is a tangled mass, which isn't easy to prune. Winter pruning can cost between $20,000 and $40,000 a hectare compared to green kiwifruit at between $5000 and $6000 a hectare.
'The costs of picking are also higher as pickers are paid by the hour because it is necessary to select pick and handle the fruit with care.”
KiwiBerries are trained over a pergola system with each plant growing in a five metre by 3.6 metre canopy area. Unlike their larger cousins, KiwiBerries are not picked all at once.

KiwiBerry flowers don't open simultaneously so are pollinated at different times, meaning all the fruit doesn't reach maturity at the same time. Because of this, orchard blocks are visited by pickers at least twice during harvest.

Quality standards

'We may be a small industry but the New Zealand KiwiBerry Growers Association has adopted quality standards, not unlike those for kiwifruit, which means our customers have an assurance of a consistent quality of product,” says Geoff.