was an important sweetener in the times
before cheap table sugar, but provides tartness
and aroma as well as sweetness. It’s thought
that balsamic vinegar may have evolved from
grape syrup that was kept long enough to
ferment (p. 775).
Kiwi “Kiwi” fruit is the name that New
Zealand producers came up with for the
striking, tart berry of a Chinese vine,
Actinidia deliciosa, when they pioneered its
international marketing in the 1970s. Several
other species of Actinidia are now also
cultivated, including the yellow-to-red-
fleshed A. chinensis. Kiwi fruit are unusual in
appearance and ripening behavior. Their thin,
hairy skin doesn’t change color during
ripening, and the translucent inner flesh is
green with chlorophyll, with as many as 1,500
small black seeds embedded in a ring and
connected to the core by white rays of
vascular tissue. (There are also chlorophyll-