The kiwi season is on in Manila!

Are you a kiwi fruit lover? I was never really into this fruit and now I know the reasons why – first was because I didn't really know how to properly select a fully ripe kiwi and second, I didn't realize there were several varieties and sources with varying tastes and quality.

Recently, I got to learn the proper way of selecting and enjoying this refreshing and highly nutritious fruit (did you know that the vitamin C content of one kiwi fruit us equivalent to 2 oranges and one apple?), thanks to Zespri, the brand of the best-tasting kiwifruits from New Zealand.

Dexter Difuntorum, marketing consultant of Fresh Studio Innovations Asia (left) and Steve Bunyan

Flying in from Singapore to formally kick off the Zespri kiwifruit season was Steve Bunyan, Zespri regional market development manager for Southeast and South Asia. "We're excited to bring the delicious and nutritious kiwifruit experience to Filipinos. We encourage everyone to enjoy Zespri kiwifruit anytime, anywhere as it is naturally fresh, full of flavor, safe and good for everyone's health," says Bunyan.

Considered the best in the world, Zespri Kiwifruit comes from Mount Maunganui, which is the heart of New Zealand's kiwifruit industry. Bunyan adds that Zespri offers an innovative range of premium kiwifruit products: Zespri Gold and Zespri Green, to cater to any person's taste preference.

    For a sweet, uniquely tropical taste with a silky and very juicy texture, pick Zespri Gold. This kiwifruit has a smooth, hairless skin that is bronze in color, a golden flesh interior and a white core with black seeds. Zespri Green kiwifruit has a small white core and black seeds that burst with a tangy, sweet sour taste combination of refreshing flavors, leaving your mouth feeling clean. The gold variety is ready to eat when you get it from the supermarket, while the green variety may take as long as 5 days, room temperature to ripen. How do you know if green kiwi fruit is ready to eat? Just press lightly between your finger and if you feel the slightest softness, then it's ripe and ready to eat.

And what's the usual way of enjoying this fruit? Just slice in half and scoop out using a spoon. Or peel with a knife, slice then it's ready to serve!

    But more than their delicious and refreshing taste, Zespri kiwifruit is a nutrition powerhouse, offering more vitamins and minerals per gram and per calorie than most other fruits. When it comes to vitamin C, kiwifruits outshine oranges as these contain twice as much vitamin C, which is very effective in modulating the immune system. In addition to this, kiwifruits are also loaded folic acid to prevent neural defects in babies and potassium, which is beneficial in maintaining blood pressure and a healthy heart.

For those waging a war on aging, kiwifruit is your best ally as it is naturally high in vitamin E and antioxidants like polyphenols, carotenoids and other potentially beneficial phytochemicals that fight damages caused by free radicals and oxidative stress. Kiwifruits also contain carotenoid lutein, which helps prevent age-related eyesight deterioration.

    So if you want to get your daily dose of vitamin c and fiber the easy, delicious and refreshing way, just grab a piece of Zespri kiwifruit from your fave supermarket and enjoy!