from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
The Kiwi Fruit
www.flickr.com/photos/addicted-to-ornaments/37339520801/
The Kiwi Fruit in France.
I had always assumed that the Kiwi fruit was native to New Zealand until I started seeing them in French markets and restaurants under the name Kiwi de Sibérie and then I began asking questions. Those were the early days for the Kiwi Fruit, and now France is the third-largest producer of Kiwi Fruit in Europe and the sixth-largest in the world. When visiting France, you'll be enjoying French Kiwi fruit from November through April, and after that, it will be mostly replaced by New Zealand and Chinese imports.
How the Kiwi Fruit got its name
From 1914 New Zealand soldiers were fighting in WWI in Europe with their unique Kiwi bird on many of the soldiers' flashes. Following on, the soldiers began to be called Kiwis, a name that was transferred to and accepted by all New Zealanders. The Kiwi is a flightless bird and the country's national bird. The Kiwi had received its name from the Maori people who had settled in New Zealand in the 1300s. (More about Kiwi birds at the end of this post).
Beware Kiwis Wandering Sign
The Kiwi is a protected bird in New Zealand.
If you hit one you're in big trouble.
New Zealand farmers began growing the fruits in the early 20th century, which originated close to China's Siberian borders and had been brought to New Zealand by returning missionaries. Then they were called the Chinese Gooseberry. After WWI, with the people of New Zealand labeled Kiwis, the Siberian Gooseberry became the Kiwi Fruit. (A little more about real gooseberries at the end of this article).
Now to the fruit
Inside its rough-looking exterior, the fruit has a uniquely flavored, sweet to tart (depending on when they are picked), soft, green, or golden-green flesh inside along with rows of minuscule, black, edible seeds. A slice of the fruit on your tongue can continue to send out flavor pops whenever you tongue applies pressure for up to a minute. That being said, most of us want to eat the next slice, so much of the real enjoyment of texture and taste is missed.
Kiwi fruit in a market in France.
What about the Kiwi fruit’s skin?
The surrounding skin is initially off-putting, with most varieties having a seemingly dirty green skin covered with what looks like brown hair. That skin is edible but sour, and so most of us are happy to leave it. Still, on your travels, you may also encounter hairless Kiwi fruits that can be enjoyed smooth skin and all.
The source of French Kiwi fruits.
While New Zealand was the first country to put this fruit on the map, it's the Chinese who are again the world's largest producers. Back in France, a large proportion of Kiwi fruits are produced at home, with a center in the departments of Lot and Lot-et-Garonne in the new super region of Occitanie.
Kiwi fruits on French menus:
Coupe Kiwi Sauce Menthe-Chocolat - A bowl (usually two scoops) of Kiwi fruit ice cream dessert served with a chocolate-mint sauce.
Crème Brûlée à la Kiwi - Crème Brulee flavored with Kiwi fruit.
Vanilla Tofu Creme Crepe with Kiwi
www.flickr.com/photos/veganfeast/3535354588/
Filet Mignon de Veau en Brioche Sauce Kiwi – A veal filet mignon cooked En Croûte inside a brioche bread and served with a Kiwi flavored sauce. The fillet mignon referred to in North America comes from the thickest end of the fillet, In France the filet mignon (and they gave the cut its name(with one l), comes from the thinner end of the fillet, the short loin. N.B. The French Filet Mignon is usually a cut of pork or veal, very rarely beef; read the menu carefully.
Sablé aux Fruits Rouges et sa Sauce Kiwi – A shortcake pastry pie served with red fruits, which depending on the season will include strawberries, red currants, plums, and raspberries and other red fruits served with a Kiwi flavored sauce.
Seared tuna with a kiwi/jalapeno sauce.
www.flickr.com/photos/nikchick/304300952/
Tartare de Daurade au Kiwi - Blue Spotted Sea Bream, the fish. A fish Tatar is made with small cubes of the raw fish, spiced, and here it flavored with Kiwi fruit. There are a number of fish with Daurade or Dorade in their names; all are very tasty. For this menu listing, I have chosen the Daurade Rose or Pagre à Points Bleus – the Bluespotted Seabream as the most likely candidate.
If you ask the server, and it’s another fish with a similar, you can always Google the French name with words "Behind the French Menu" ( with the parentheses " & ") in the search for an informed answer when you know the full French name.
Kiwi fruits do not grow on trees
Kiwi fruit is grown on perennial vines with small leaves and bright red stems; some vines can reach 12 meters (40 feet) in length. The vines need to be trained and pruned, and then they can live, still providing fruit, for up to 50 or more years.
Kiwi fruit on the vine.
Kiwi fruits are a big industry
For the French farmers, the Kiwi is now a significant local crop, and France is the third-largest producer of Kiwi Fruit in Europe and the sixth in the world. France's production, of which a third is exported, is concentrated in the country's south-west, in the region of Occitanie. The fruit reaches the market from November through April.
France has developed its own Kiwi Fruit varieties: the "Oscar® Gold," a yellow Kiwifruit, the early-maturing "SummerKiwi," or the minuscule "Nergi®" baby Kiwi. (However, the world champion of Kiwi fruits is the Hayward green Kiwifruit, named after the New Zealand nurseryman, who selected it in the 1920s).
Kiwi fruits are a winter fruit par excellence.
Just one Kiwi Fruit a day keeps the doctor away with a single fruit providing the recommended daily intake of vitamins C, B1, B2, iron, calcium, and provitamin A.
Kiwi fruit flowers
www.flickr.com/photos/ideatrendz/6456935499/
More about Kiwi birds
The Kiwi birds are wingless and are unlike penguins, which also cannot fly but do have wings. Without wings or the ability to swim, how they arrived in New Zealand remains a mystery. My suggestion that Kiwi Birds may have arrived on the backs of pterodactyls was turned down.
The Kiwi Bird
Kiwis are nocturnal, with deafening, piercing calls in the forest air at dusk and dawn. The Kiwi Bird's feathers look like hair, and to add to its strangeness while the Kiwi bird is only the size of a chicken, it lays the largest egg, comparative to its size, of any bird in the world; even when compared with an ostrich. The little spotted Kiwi female weighing only 1.3 kilograms, lays an egg weighing 300 grams, (10.5 oz) which is practically 25% of its body weight. Compare that to an average chicken’s egg where a large XL egg weighs 64 grams (2.25 oz). Q.E.D. The Kiwi egg is close to five times that of an extra-large chicken’s egg. During its lifetime a Kiwi bird can lay 100 eggs.
The Kiwi bird before photography
London: Trübner and Co., Bernard Quaritch, R.H. Porter,1876-1878
Kiwi bids are omnivores. Discover more about Kiwi birds and what foods they find with their unusual beak at the Kiwi bird link below:
Gooseberries
Growing up in the Lake District in northern England we grew in our kitchen garden about ten or 12 gooseberry bushes. The bushes produced, sweet to tart, firm, round, to mostly oval berries. Inside each berry with its edible, slightly hairy skin was a sweet jelly much like a Kiwi fruit's, filled with tiny edible seeds. Most berries were between 1cm (0.4”) to 2.5 cm (1”) in diameter and varied in color from green to green with a mauve tinge like the picture below. They grew on stumpy thorny bushes and we feasted on them when they were ripe. When my brother and I were sent out to bring a bowl of the fruit for the kitchen another bowlful ended up our stomachs. There's room for a separate story of fruit scrumping in the vegetable gardens and orchards, ours and others, and not getting caught, but that would need a separate blog as it's not related to France. Now, gooseberries are out of fashion in the UK and while the occasional farmers’ market in the North of England and Scotland may have them they will not be found in the supermarkets.
Gooseberries
www.flickr.com/photos/wolfworld/184807954/
The Kiwi fruit in the languages of France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - Kiwi, Kiwi raïm), (Dutch – Kiwi, Kiwibes),(German – kivi, scharfzähnige, strahlengriffel), (Italian - kiwai, Kiwi de Sibérie), (Spanish – Kiwiño, Kiwi), (Latin - actinidia arguta)
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2019, 2023
--------------------------------
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?
Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google, Bing, or another browser. Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 470 posts that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
Connected Posts:
