<p><strong>Healdsburg, CA</strong><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Frieda Caplan known as “The Kiwi Queen” from Frieda’s Specialty Produce was recently asked to share her success story at the International Kiwifruit Organization’s annual conference.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“We’ve always called kiwifruit our 18 year overnight success, because that’s how long it took to really catch on,” Caplan said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Caplan is widely known for her place in produce history as the woman who reinvented the Chinese Gooseberry in the early 1960s, revamping it with a new name and introducing it to mainstream market buyers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“In order to get chain store buyers to even try the fruit, I went to a local restaurant and made a deal … if they would make some fruit tarts with these Chinese Gooseberries, I would provide the fruit at no cost. And that’s how we finally got produce buyers interested. We actually fed them kiwifruit,” stated Caplan.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">More than 50 delegates from Italy, France, Spain, Chile, Korea, Portugal and New Zealand attended the conference and learned how Caplan decided to name the fruit, Kiwi.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“We normally don’t have speakers, but Frieda has been here since the beginning and it was appropriate to bring her in. People loved hearing her speak,” stated John Fagundes, member of the California Kiwifruit Commission. “She was the highlight of our conference; many people didn’t really know what it was like in the beginning and how the Kiwi got its name. So they loved it, it was an honor meeting Frieda for everyone.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.friedas.com/" target="_new"> Frieda’s </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
