kiwi

In 1906, a Miss Isobel Frazer, a teacher ater at Wanganui Girls' College in New Zealand returned from visiting her sister on a church mission station in Yichang, China with some small black seeds. The seeds grew into big-leafed vines hung with hairy russet-skinned berries with bright green flesh. This fruit was called then in New Zealand "Chinese gooseberries."Today this billion-dollar fruit industry can trace its origins to this handful of seeds. The first Chinese gooseberries were grown along the riverside and then were commercially planted in a small inland town in the center of the North Island of New Zealand, in the heart of the lush farming community.The first Chinese gooseberries were exported from New Zealand in 1952 and since then this industry has grown to become New Zealand's biggest horticultural export earner.The name then changed to kiwi fruit, thus promoting the icon of the country's beautiful flightless bird, the kiwi, because of its brown furry exterior, and as the fruit could be immediately recognized around the world.The kiwi fruit rapidly gained a reputation from its exciting tangy-sweet flavor, great quality and consistency, and a solid brand identity that could help shoppers quickly find the fruit in a busy market.But in 1996 there was the need for a new brand name that needed to have some meaning, not a literal meaning per se, but one that needed an immediate association with the vitality, superb quality that kiwi fruit could bring to everyday life.People who were interviewed told researchers that the kiwi fruit meant "vibrant, vigorous, healthy, nutritious, effervescent, zesty, fully of life, full of flavor, and full of energy."These messages had to be captured in a word, an enticing word with no negative connotation, distinctive and capturing the essence of the kiwi fruit, and to be able to be marketed around the world.So a new word was created - by a computer!! All the above descriptions were input, and out of the computer spelled the word ZESPRI. All around Shenzhen you can see now on large bus stop billboards, ZESPRI, New Zealand kiwi fruit.This word is not an acronym; it is simply a computer-generated word that identifies the world's finest kiwi fruit.It is full of Vitamin C, and, something that will surely surprise you: it is a meat tenderizer! Cut off the hairy skin, and press the fruit onto your steak - this will soften the meat and will enable you to taste the best steak you've ever had.