January 31, 2025
Harvest of the Month
KIWIS!
For Harvest of the Month this January we celebrate with delicious and nutritious Kiwi! Students at four head start sites tasted raw kiwi slices. They were encouraged to try the fruit with and without the edible skin. They described the fruit inside as being, soft, juicy, and sweet. Many described the outside as being furry and sour, some liked that a lot.
At the Pacific Mobile Pantry, 89 participants tried the AmaZing Fruit Salad. Unlike other fruit salad recipes, this recipe has the fruit served on crisp lettuce with a sweet yogurt dressing. It is sweet and refreshing, many who tried it were surprised at how delightful it is.
Kiwis are one of the most nutrient-dense of all fruits. A ½ cup of sliced kiwis is: An excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and a good source of fiber. Kiwi is also a source of potassium, folate, beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.
Kiwi plants are dioecious, meaning individual plants are male or female. Only female plants bear fruit and only when pollinized by a male plant. They are typically planted in a vineyard at a ratio of about eight females to one male. Growers bring in bees during bloom so that the bees can move the pollen from the male to the female vines. California is the only state that commercially produces kiwis for the United States marketplace. California kiwis represent 95 percent of all kiwis grown in the United States.
