Furry Brown Kiwi a $5 Billion Addition to the World’s Diet

Kiwifruit has had a slow climb to become a major New Zealand export, but this year sales have topped $5 billion for the first time.

Two kinds of kiwi fruit. Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP/Getty Images

When New Zealand growers decided to take a punt on a fruit native to eastern and central China, they weren’t sure it'd ever be more than a curiosity to Western palates, like Dragon Fruit or Mangosteen.

Mary Fraser brought the first Chinese gooseberry seeds to New Zealand in 1904, and a handful of growers decided to grow it as a curiosity.