Minnesota kiwi orchards open for tours this weekend

Victoria, Minn. (AP) — It turns out that kiwifruit can grow even in frigid Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and University of Minnesota are sponsoring a field day tour Saturday that will feature two new orchards of cold-hardy kiwifruit.

Minnesota kiwis aren't the same fuzzy, brown fruit found in supermarkets. They're the size of a large grape, with smooth skins, so you can pop them in your mouth. They taste similar to regular kiwis, only a little sweeter.

The tour begins at 1:00 p.m. Saturday at the Apple House at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center on Minnesota Highway 5 near Victoria, one mile west of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Following a tour of the orchards there, the group will see another kiwi orchard in Chanhassen.