Category: Seed of the Week (Page 114 of 167)

Seed of the Week: Kiwi

As Heather and Karen guessed, the mystery seeds from last week were indeed from a kiwi, Actinidia deliciosa.

Kiwi, also known as Chinese gooseberry, grows as a vine that can reach 30 feet long.

(Orchard photograph by James Shook, retrieved at Wikimedia.

In this photograph of an orchard, it appears that the commercially-grown vines are trained rather like grape vines in vineyards.

Often associated with New Zealand, the plant actually originated in Asia. It was introduced to New Zealand in 1906, and soon became a crop that has since been exported throughout the world. The orchard shown above is in New Zealand.

(Photograph by André Karwath, retrieved from Wikimedia)

The fruit has a brown, fuzzy exterior, which may make it look a bit like the kiwi bird. The flesh of the fruit is green. The fruit is fairly easy to keep and ships well.

In addition to eating it raw, the kiwi can be used in baking.

Here are some recipe suggestions:

Kiwi jam

Kiwi Strawberry Smoothie

Do you like kiwi? What is your favorite recipe?

Have you ever grown a kiwi vine?

More about kiwi

Seed of the Week: Moringa

The mystery seeds last week are from an unusual tree called the Moringa, Moringa oleifera.

The Moringa has gotten a lot of attention because it is fast-growing and virtually all parts of the tree are edible. It is grown in tropical areas throughout the world as a source of food for humans and livestock.

Even the leaves are edible.

It has lovely, lacy foliage.

The trees produce large white to yellowish flowers at least once a year.

The seeds form in large pods.

(Photograph by Forest and Kim Starr, downloaded from Wikimedia)

The pods are edible when they are young, about the size of a green bean.

(Photograph by Forest and Kim Starr, downloaded from Wikimedia)

Inside the pods are the triangular seeds with wings. The seed will readily sprout new trees.

Moringa trees are thought to come from Northern India. They do grow in the warm parts of Arizona. In fact, the first two photographs are of a tree in our yard.

Have you ever seen a Moringa tree?

For more information:

UBC Botanical Garden

Trees of Arizona

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