Actinidia are Far Eastern relatives of kiwi. Kiwi fruit: is it useful? What is the name of the hybrid kiwi with gooseberry
Genus Actinidia (Actinidia) has about 30 species distributed in Central and East Asia. On Far East grows a, acute (A, argutaj, a, kolomikta (A. kolomikta). A. Giraldi (A. giraldiij, a, polygamous (A. polygama). The first two species are common in our areas.
Powerful climber up to 20 m tall with large oval glossy dark green leaves with dark red petioles. In autumn they turn golden yellow. The flowers are white, the male flowers are collected in loose inflorescences, the female flowers are single or three. The berries are dark green in color, 2 - 3 cm long, ripen in August - September, Prefers bright places, although it also tolerates a slight shading.
Actinidia kolomikta- climber 8 - 15 m high with long thin shoots and large wrinkled oblong-ovate leaves that change color during the season: from bronze in spring to purple or brownish in autumn. In June, during flowering on the lower part of the leaf, the color begins to fade and turns white, and after flowering it turns from white to light pink and crimson red. The color of the leaves becomes especially bright in male specimens and when sunlight hits the leaves.
White single flowers are very fragrant. Flowering lasts up to 20 days. The berries are green with dark longitudinal stripes, cylindrical in shape, up to 2 cm long. The most winter-hardy species in central Russia. More shade tolerant than a. sharp, but growing somewhat slower.
The soil
Optimal for actinidia are well-drained fertile soils with a slightly acidic or acidic reaction. It is important to provide soil drainage so that there is no stagnant water in the root zone. On clayey swimming soils, it forms a weak growth and may die over time.
Landing and care
Plants are planted in spring, but in autumn planting pits 60 x 60 cm in size and up to 50 cm deep are prepared. A 10-cm layer of fine gravel, gravel or coarse sand is poured onto the bottom. They bring into the pit: a bucket
- humus,
- 100 - 200 g
- superphosphate, 1 - 1.5 cups of wood ash
and mixed with fertile soil. Plants are planted at a distance of 2 - 2.5 m from each other, without deepening the root neck when planting. For pollination, one male plant is planted on two female plants on the leeward side. The soil around the plants is cultivated carefully, to a depth of 5–10 cm, otherwise the root system, which does not lie deep, can be damaged. In the early years, plants must be protected from cats that eat young leaves and roots. During the summer, in dry weather, plants are watered, sprayed and mulched. Every year, top dressing is carried out in three doses: in early spring before the start of the growing season, in the summer during flowering and in the fall after harvesting the fruits. For the winter, the planting circle of young plants is covered with a layer of peat or humus.
reproduction
Actinidia can be easily propagated by seeds, layering and green cuttings. The seed method is used to obtain male plants: when sown, their share is about 50%. To obtain layering at the end of May, a strong one-year-old branch is placed in a groove, pinned in places where lateral young shoots originate and covered with soil, after a week the soil is again poured onto the shoot. Already after 30 - 35 days, roots form at the base of the sprinkled shoots, and by autumn - a well-developed root system. In the spring of next year, the cuttings are cut off. Young plants are grown on a specially designated ridge with light, nutritious soil. By the end of the second year, the plants are planted on permanent place, the length of the vine by this time is 120-150 cm. Green cuttings are cut in mid-June, during the browning of the bark, leaving two internodes and one leaf. The lower oblique cut is made directly under the kidney, the straight upper one is 5 cm above the kidney. Before planting, the cuttings are kept in a solution of heteroauxin (1 tablet per 1 liter of water). They are planted in a prepared greenhouse in a mixture of river sand and peat at an angle of 45 °, where they maintain a temperature of 25 ° C and high humidity. Rooting lasts 20 - 25 days. For the winter, the cuttings are left in a greenhouse, covered with foliage and spruce branches with a layer of 10 - 15 cm. They are planted in a permanent place in the second or third year.
actinidia berries fragrant, juicy, delicate sweet taste with a slight sourness,ripen at the same time. When harvested in one go and ripened indoors, they retain all beneficial features, taste and aroma. Two ripe berries are enough to satisfy a person's daily need for vitamin C, which is also preserved in processed products due to antioxidant substances.
- Varieties early term maturation: (end of July) - ‘Grape’, ‘Abundant’, ‘Queen of the Garden’, ‘Stranger’, ‘Charming’, ‘Homestead’, ‘Fantasy Gardens’.
- Medium (August) - ‘Waffle’, ‘Gourmet’, ‘Marmalade’, ‘Coin’, ‘Folk’, ‘Festive’, ‘Early Dawn’, ‘Sweets’, ‘Magpie’, ‘University’.
- Late (beginning of September) - Apricot ', 'Primorskaya'.
Pollinator variety - "Commander".
Chinese actinidia (A. chinensis), As the name suggests, it comes from China. From there, it was brought to New Zealand, where the first large-scale plantations of this crop were established. The long scientific name of the plant was replaced by local exporters with a short and sonorous one - kiwi(according to the similarity of the fruit with the living emblem of the kiwi bird, covered with hair-like feathers).
From actinidia you can make jam without adding water. To do this, pour 1 kg of berries into 2 kg of sand, keep in a cool place for 2-4 days (until juice is released) and cook over low heat in one go.
Support
After the day of support, after 3 m, poles are dug in, between which the wire is pulled: the first - at a distance of 30 cm from the ground, the next 3-4 rows - with an interval of 50-60 cm. east and northwest sides. It can be used as a support for arches and gazebos.
Shaping on a trellis
The crown begins to form in the fall in the first year of planting. The two strongest shoots are selected and directed in opposite directions, tied to a wire, the rest are removed. Shoots growing over the summer are tied up vertically. When the growth reaches the top wire, the tops are shortened, stimulating the formation of side shoots. The most productive are the lateral shoots growing directly on the main ones. Every 3-4 years, the main shoots are recommended to be replaced with new ones.
The Actinidia plant is a perennial liana-like shrub, belongs to the Actinidia family, the Actinidia genus. An excellent extraordinary purchase for yours!
Of more than 30 species of this genus, three are found in the wild: kolomikta, arguta, polygamous. The first of them has a higher winter hardiness than the others, therefore it is of undoubted interest to amateur gardeners.
Actinidia kolomikta is famous for its juicy, fragrant berries. yellow color. fruit length different varieties ranges from 1.5 to 4 cm, weight - from 2 to 5 g. The berries are rich in vitamin C, taste sweet with a slight acidity and a delicate aroma of pineapple. They do not ripen at the same time, crumble as they mature. From the fresh berries of the actinidia plant, you can make excellent juices, jams, candied fruits, raisins, sultanas. The use of actinidia berries is widely known in the field traditional medicine, for example, for bleeding, tuberculosis and as an antihelminthic. In dentistry, the use of actinidia berries is also known.
All about actinidia
The actinidia kolomikta plant grows better and bears fruit more abundantly on well-fertilized, moderately moist loamy or sandy soils.
Its root system is fibrous, highly branched, located superficially. Only individual roots penetrate to a depth of 50-60 cm. Plants are difficult to tolerate drought, flooding with water, close standing ground water, do not grow well in waterlogged areas.
The stems of the bush are strongly branched, the shoots curl around the support counterclockwise, in the absence of support they spread along the ground, which negatively affects the yield of berries. The bark of perennial trunks is dark brown, and on young shoots it is brown, shiny with yellow-orange convex lenticels in the form of dots. The core of the shoots is yellowish.
The kidneys of actinidia kolomikta are closed, hidden in the middle of the roller, which is formed in the axil of the leaf. Thus, it is protected from the effects of winter adverse weather conditions. The cone of the kidney begins to appear from the opening of the roller with the onset of spring. The leaves are leathery, finely serrated along the edges, without stipules.
In summer, some leaves become half or completely white or white-pink. Actinidia kolomikta is a dioecious plant, that is, only male flowers are formed on some bushes, and female flowers on others.
Kiwi is the common name for the fruits of cultivated plant varieties belonging to the genus Actinidia, the species Actinidia sinensis or Actinidia gourmet.
Kiwi bird
Kiwi is Chinese by birth and New Zealander by upbringing. And the kiwi was born just 100 years ago! It got its name from a small kiwi bird, which looks very similar to this fruit, covered with thick red fluff. It is sometimes called the Chinese gooseberry.
The history of kiwi began with the fact that the New Zealand orderly, and part-time amateur gardener Alexander Ellison at the dawn of the 20th century became interested in the decorative mihutao liana growing in China and blooming in spring with stunning white flowers. Actually, it was the flowers that interested him in this vine, and not the berries at all, which were small, hard and almost tasteless.
And then one fine day, his Chinese friend sent him the long-awaited mihutao seeds, from which quite impressive plants grew very quickly.
Actinidia
It is difficult to say what prompted Alexander and his fellow gardeners to cultivate the Chinese savage, but after only 30 years they got an absolutely amazing result in the form of a huge liana bush strewn with giant fluffy and very delicious berries. True, this required numerous pruning, vaccinations, fertilizers.
But for many years only the families of Alexander Ellison and his friends could enjoy the unusual fruits. Perhaps the rest of the world's population would never have known about this unusual fruit, if ... a few years later, at the end of the 30s, when the whole world was not struck by the global industrial crisis.
It was then that a jobless port clerk named James McLaughlin decided out of grief to grow lemons on his relative's farm.
But since the demand for lemons was almost non-existent, he remembered that one of the neighbors of his farming parents grows that same Chinese gooseberry that grows much faster than lemons, gives a huge harvest and, most importantly, unlike lemons, there is no one else does not grow for sale.
Now kiwi is grown in many countries with a subtropical climate, especially widely - in Italy, New Zealand, Chile. From there, juicy medicinal fruits with delicate green tasty pulp are transported all over the world. In Russia, there are experimental kiwi plantations on the Black Sea coast Krasnodar Territory.
For New Zealanders, picking the fruit, the world's purveyor of kiwi, is a national event. During the days of harvesting, tourists and students join the workers, and everything ends with folk festivals and colorful fireworks.
The plants themselves are large tree-like vines native to China. Sometimes kiwi is called "Chinese gooseberry". Kiwi is a multi-meter climbing plant with very beautiful white or pink flowers, similar to a rose.
The kiwifruit has a cylindrical shape and a length of 7.5 to 10 cm, covered with a thin light brown skin. The flesh is usually green or yellow. There is a variety of Gold kiwi "golden kiwi", or "yellow kiwi". In China, local breeders are trying to grow a fruit with ruby flesh. Many small black seeds form a wreath around the heart of the fruit.
Nearly all kiwi fruit on the market are of several varieties "Hayward", "Chico" and "Saanichton 12". The fruits of these varieties practically do not differ from each other and correspond to the description of a standard kiwi. Golden kiwifruit, Hinabelle or Zespri, with yellow flesh, has a sweeter and less sour flavor, reminiscent of a tropical fruit salad. This is a new group of strains produced by the New Zealand Research Institute and sold worldwide in large quantities. In India, some cultivars produce small yellow fruits not suitable for commercial use, but currently grown in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
The seeds of these plants were brought to New Zealand in 1987, and it took 11 years to develop new fruits through cross-pollination and genetic engineering. Zespri fruits have a smooth, bronzed skin, a pointed apex at one end, and golden yellow flesh with a less tart and more tropical flavor than green kiwifruit. They cost more than green kiwi. They are smaller than the hairy green varieties, so after cleaning they can be consumed whole at a time. By the way, kiwifruit is completely edible, including its "hairy" peel.
Describing the taste of kiwi, they talk about a combination of gooseberry, strawberry, banana, melon, apple and pineapple flavors. The taste is delicate, refreshing and sour. Kiwis are eaten fresh, made into jam, jelly, added to salads, served with meat.
There are enough recipes for desserts and drinks with kiwi. Kiwi is suitable for filling pies, it can also be used to make jams, marmalades, winemakers make liqueurs and wine from kiwi.
The kiwi fruit is a wonderful dessert in itself. Served with ice cream, yogurt, whipped cream or other fruits, the bright green flesh looks very appetizing.
However, never try to add kiwi to cottage cheese and cottage cheese desserts. In this case, a bitter taste appears. But jelly can't be made either. Gelatin and kiwi fruit are incompatible foods. No matter how long you wait, the jelly will not harden.
But kiwi is not only a dessert fruit. Sauce made from kiwi is perfect for meat or poultry. To prepare it, you need to chop several kiwi fruits in a blender, add crushed walnuts and dill greens. It turns out very tasty if you add a couple of kiwi fruit cut into pieces to your usual barbecue marinade.
Depending on the variety, kiwifruit can weigh from 50 to 150 grams, with most of it being water (about 84%). Energy value kiwi is relatively small, it equals 48 kilocalories per 100 grams of product.
Nutritionists advocate for kiwi as the perfect balance of minimum calories and maximum useful substances. (But don't forget that kiwi fruit abuse can cause an allergic reaction.) Kiwifruit is among the fruits that reduce the risk of oncological diseases and diseases of cardio-vascular system
Kiwi contains a large amount of vitamins. But in this case, its difference from other fruits is that most of them are not destroyed during canning. This is due to a certain acidity of the pulp of the fruit, which contributes to the preservation of useful elements.
Kiwi is rich in vitamin C, it contains an order of magnitude more than in citrus or bell pepper. There is vitamin E. The high content of potassium makes kiwi useful in some forms of hypertension, iodine deficiency. According to the content of folic acid, kiwi is second only to broccoli - the richest plant source of this vitamin.
Pamper your skin with a mask that will moisturize, smooth the skin, give it a well-groomed appearance. To prepare such a mask, you need to knead the kiwi, add low-fat yogurt, mix everything well and apply to clean skin.
Keep the mask for 10-15 minutes, then rinse with warm water. This mask is used for normal facial skin. For aging skin, kiwi pulp is mixed with honey.
Kiwis are harvested hard, they are considered truly ripe when the skin is squeezed when pressed with a finger. Kiwi is eaten with spoons or cut into circles mainly for fruit salads.
If the fruit is too hard, it means that it has not yet ripened. If the fruit is elastic to the touch, not softened or shriveled, then it can be eaten, it is quite juicy and sweet. Do not forget to smell the fruit: if the kiwi emits an aroma, this is a sign of ripeness.
Store kiwi in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator in a paper bag. Kiwi fruits do not like neighborhood with other fruits and food. In order for greenish kiwis to ripen at home, you should put the fruits on a dish with bananas or oranges.
Some 20 years ago, the kiwi fruit was a perfect exotic for us. However, other countries of the world discovered it for themselves about 70 years ago. Since then, the popularity of kiwi has been growing.
Blog Sudarushka
Today we will not talk about the popular payment service with the same name, but about the real furry kiwi fruit, which looks like a potato from afar. Is this exotic fruit useful?
For the first time, kiwi fruits were found in one of the river valleys of Northern China, and then brought to other countries. In China, the kiwi is nicknamed the "monkey peach" because the whole fruit is covered with hairy skin. In Europe, kiwi was called "Chinese gooseberry", although it has nothing to do with gooseberries.
The kiwi fruit is a berry that grows on large tree-like vines of Chinese actinidia. Insect pests do not like kiwi, so its yield is usually very high. Wild kiwis weigh about 30 g, but cultivated fruits weigh from 70 to 100 g. It is noteworthy that even after harvesting, kiwi fruits continue to grow and ripen.
The history of kiwi cultivation in total has about 100 years.
In the 1950s, New Zealanders began exporting it to the United States. The shape of the fruit reminded them then of the shape of the body of the flightless kiwi bird, whose homeland is New Zealand. That is why the berry got its name. By the way, the New Zealand company that was the first to introduce this product to the market was also called Kiwi, and the famous bird was depicted on its emblem. In addition, the kiwi bird to this day acts as national symbol this country.
In 1992, a special variety of kiwi was bred in New Zealand - golden (yellow), but its fruits are much more expensive, so in Russia, for example, it is impossible to buy them. It is believed that in Europe, in terms of its popularity, kiwi as an exotic fruit takes second place after pineapple.
Currently, kiwi is especially widely grown in New Zealand, Chile, and Italy. It is from here that juicy fruits with a pleasant specific taste and delicate light green pulp are exported to other countries of the world. There are experimental plantations of this berry in Russia (on the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory and in the south of Dagestan), as well as in Ukraine (in the Transcarpathian region).
Useful properties of kiwi
Kiwi fruits contain about 100 mg of vitamin C (per 100 g of product), which significantly exceeds its content in citrus fruits, B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, folic acid), vitamins A, D and E, as well as a large amount of potassium (312 mg), phosphorus and calcium (34 mg each), magnesium (17 mg), iron, zinc and manganese.
In addition, kiwi contains sugars, pectins, flavonoids, organic acids, fiber, and vegetable protein actinidin.
One kiwifruit satisfies the daily requirement of vitamin C for an adult.
Magnesium, also present in kiwi, is involved in normal functioning nervous system and heart muscle, has a vasodilating effect, promotes the removal of cholesterol from the body. Magnesium and potassium are perfectly combined with each other, providing, first of all, a positive effect on the work of the heart.
Calcium and phosphorus take a huge part in the formation and regulation of the human skeletal system.
Due to the rich composition and high content in kiwi nutrients, possessing antioxidant abilities, can be considered as a means for the prevention of oncological diseases.
Due to the fact that kiwi is a dietary product, its introduction into the diet can be recommended for people at any stage of obesity.
Kiwi application
Of course, eating fresh kiwi is the most beneficial. Despite this, it can also make delicious jelly or marmalade, jam or jam. With the addition of kiwi, all kinds of drinks, desserts and salads are prepared. It is also used as a filling for various pies and muffins.
Kiwi is an excellent cosmetic product, as it perfectly cleanses and nourishes the skin.
As an exfoliating agent, kiwi pulp, ground into gruel, is applied to the skin of the face and left for 15 minutes, after which it is washed off with warm water.
In order to nourish the skin, the kiwi fruit, freed from the skin, is rubbed with ½ banana and 2 tbsp. l. natural yogurt, after which it is applied to the face, left for 20 minutes, and then washed off with warm water.
Mask based on a mixture of crushed kiwi pulp with 2 tbsp. l. low-fat cottage cheese moisturizes and rejuvenates the skin. The mask is applied to the skin of the face and neck for 15 minutes, after which it is also washed off with warm water. This tool is especially useful in winter.
Harm kiwi
Alas, despite the high content of vitamins and minerals in this delicious fruit, it can be harmful. Kiwi is a strong allergen. This must be taken into account when caring for a low-allergenic diet for an allergic child. The abuse of kiwi by an adult with an allergy will lead to an exacerbation of the disease.
If you consume kiwi excessively, you can get an overdose of vitamin C. Recall that in kiwi it is several times more than in citrus fruits. An overdose of ascorbic acid is no less dangerous than its deficiency.
Kiwi is contraindicated in people with high acidity of the stomach, stomach ulcers and duodenal ulcers. Do not eat kiwi for people suffering from diarrhea.
A few years ago, a batch of kiwi fruit from New Zealand was brought into our country, which turned out to be a real “bomb” in terms of pesticide content. Permissible norms harmful substances, according to Rospotrebnadzor, were exceeded dozens of times. This could have a significant impact on the health of the people whose tables this fruit would have ended up on.
I must say that kiwi belongs to those fruits that accumulate a lot of pesticides.
Actinidia kolomikta
Today even in the gardens middle lane In our country, you can see a woody plant with an unusual color of leaves wrapping around a support. The leaves of this woody vine change color.
The fruits are also called small kiwi. The fact is that actinidia chinensis and actinidia kolomikta belong to the same family. The fruits of actinidia kolomikta have almost the same beneficial properties as shaggy kiwi. The taste is not at all like the exotic fruit of Chinese actinidia, but no less pleasant.
Thus, even you and I have the opportunity to settle on garden plot small kiwi and get all the beneficial properties of its fruits.
This is not some kind of fake from the category of uadreams-scams-complaints.com/ . This amazing fruit, whose homeland is China, and received its common name thanks to New Zealand, is now known almost all over the world. Kiwi fruits - plants from the actinidia genus, can be found on the shelves of markets and in stores in many countries, but you also need to be able to choose good fruits.
- The best fruits are considered slightly soft, since their excessive softness indicates overripeness.
- Too hard kiwis are not tasty at all, but if you bought just such fruits, then wait a bit until they become softer.
- Dark spots on the surface of a kiwi are a sign of illness, and if it also smells like wine, then you should not take such fruits, since this fruit does not have any special strong smell.
- Before buying, carefully inspect the fruits from all sides, and if there is a gray-violet or gray coating on them, then this is a sign of rot, also, if liquid is released when you press the place of the stalk, put it aside.
How to eat kiwi
Kiwi is eaten fresh, desserts are prepared from it, added to salads, served with meat, used for filling when making pies. Liqueurs and wine are also made from kiwi.
Nutritionists advise eating three kiwis a day, moreover, some time before a meal, or after it, or as a snack. If you eat kiwi before meals, then the benefits of this will be much higher, since the fiber and organic acids contained in the fruits increase appetite, speed up metabolism and stimulate the secretion of gastric juice. At a time, it is advised to eat no more than two fruits, and preferably one, because in this way kiwi enriches our body with trace elements and vitamins, and excesses do not always bring benefits. Here he is exotic fruit resembling a bird.
