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Week of January 21st, 2008

Well it is a special year because this year it looks like Honeybell tangelos are in good supply and we will have them for hopefully a few weeks. There are many special varieties of citrus in the US and abroad, but none more special or delicious than the Honeybell tangelo. Without question it is a favorite of mine. I have copied below Sallie Smith’s dissertation out of a gourmet newsletter that she did for us a couple of years ago about the honeybell tangelo. I cannot emphasize enough how special this piece of fruit is. I guess I feel the need to tell you about it because it is not the prettiest fruit we sell. It does not have the distinct orange color of the big, fat, navel oranges from California. Although the navels are very good too, the Honeybells, despite lacking the sexy eye appeal in their peel, have such a unique and special flavor and incredibly juicy flesh that for me they just beat the navel where it counts in the mouth. After all, you only look at the fruit for so long before you put it where it belongs in your tummy.

Please read Sallies info below. It is very interesting and you can see she loves them as much as I do.

HONEYBELL TANGELOS –

The Honeybell Tangelo is a cross between the delicately flavored Dancy Tangerine and the super sweet Duncan Grapefruit that was developed by researchers in Central Florida in the late 1920’s. Grapefruit are derived from Pomelos, hence the name tangelo (a cross between tangerine and pomelo). Honeybells are Mineola Tangelos that are only grown in Florida while other Mineolas can also be grown in other parts of the country such as Texas, Arizona, and California. Mineolas grown outside of Florida are good – juicy and flavorful – but only shadows of true Honeybells. The distinct limestone soil and climate of southern Florida give the Honeybell Mineola Tangelo its unique rich, honey-sweet, tart flavor and incredible juiciness. Honeybells are round to somewhat bell shaped with a dome at one end of the fruit and range from 3 inches to 3 ½ inches in diameter. The skin is somewhat pebbly and easy to peel. They have deep orange to orange-red skin with bright orange flesh and few to no seeds, depending on where they are grown. If they are grown in a block of Mineolas there will be no seeds but if they are grown near other tangerine or tangelo varieties there will be a few seeds in the fruit.

Honeybells are available for an incredibly short time, from sometime in January to the middle of February. They are so highly prized by connoisseurs that best of the crop is sold by mail order to loyal repeat customers. Some years there are no Honeybells left to be sold on the open market and, if they are available, they are the fruit with blemishes on the skin. I have been at Sickles for over six years and I can remember at least two years when no Honeybells were available. The other years we have been able to get a good quantity but, when they are gone they are gone.

My best advice is to buy them every time you come in the store and eat as many as you can. Be sure to stand over the kitchen sink or use a bib because they contain so much juice there is no way to eat one without being messy. The skin and segments are fragile so you can’t even count on segmenting one and eating it neatly. Not only do I eat a Honeybell every day, I also make my fresh squeezed juice from Honeybells instead of oranges when this spectacular fruit is available. What a way to start the day! The fragile flesh of the Honeybell breaks down quickly in heat so, if you choose to cook with them, add them at the last minute. I could tell you to eat Honeybells because they are full of vitamin C, vitamin A, folate, fiber, and calcium but I would rather tell you to eat them because they taste so incredibly delicious! Enjoy them while you can!


Eat Fresh and eat a HoneyBell a day!

Bob