Gone kiwiberry picking

The fine fall weather is a great time for apple-picking.  Did you know that you can also go kiwiberry-picking?  I went kiwiberry picking over the weekend.   It is like a cross between picking cherries and grapes.  The kiwiberry grows on a trained vine with good sized leaves.  Vines reach 6 to 8 feet tall.

First things first.  What in the world is a kiwiberry?   Answer:  It is a variation of the kiwi fruit that is miniature in size and glossy smooth in its skin (which is completely edible, in contrast to the fuzzy skin of the traditional kiwi fruit).  They are green like grapes, solid like cherries, sized like cherries, and the seeds are barely noticeable.  There is no pit.   They taste sour-sweet.

The kiwiberry goes by several names:

Kiwiberry

Arctic Kiwi

Baby Kiwi

Dessert Kiwi

Actinidia Arguta

Kiwiberry.com

Kiwiberries, like the kiwi fruit, come from Asia, where they are a mountain berry.   The plants can tolerate colder temperatures than some tropical fruits.   In the U.S., they are a trendy planting, but some states are already labeling them invasive.  They can grow up to 20 feet in one season, compromising forests if permitted to escape contained cultivation.

Recipe for Tres Leches Cake

Nutritionally, they are full of Vitamin C, Fiber, and Potassium. They also have Calcium.  Of course, they are low in fat.  They have sugar but taste sour-sweet more than pure sweet like a strawberry.  (They would combine excellently with strawberries, however.)    They are high in oxalic acid, which is the "tang" in pineapples.