Here is a little unknown fact about Italy - Did you know that Italy produces more kiwi than New Zealand? In fact, Italy is the number one producer and exporter of the quirky, delicious and healthy fruit.
According to Wiki, these countries are the top producers of kiwi are (in order):
- Italy
- New Zealand
- Chile
- France
It’s ironic, the letters K and W are not even in the Italian alphabet. Even though you see the letter K in many Italian words, (kilogram, kilometri, etc), it is not part of the Italian alphabet. In Italian there are words that have letters that are not technically part of the Italian alphabet. The letter X is another example as in “taxi”. Those vocabulary words are imported from other languages. In this case, the word was imported, and the fruit was imported as well! Much to the delight of Italian farmers, as it has become a multi-million dollar industry.
About 90% of the Italian Kiwi production takes places 4 central and northern regions of Italy
- Lazio (Rome)
- Piedmont (Milan)
- Emilia Romagna (Bologna)
- Veneto (Venice)
Kiwi is used in many Italian desserts including the Sicilian cassata (pictured), gelato, gelato toppings, etc. It is often eaten at the end of the meal along with other popular Italian fruits such as grapes, apples, pears and apricots.