Texas Grapefruit Production

Image by Stefanvds(.com) via Flickr

The grapefruit is a subtropical citrus fruit that was first documented on the island of Barbados in 1750 by a Welsh explorer. Several decades later the grapefruit was brought to Florida. A few years later that it came to Texas and that is where our story begins.

The history of the grapefruit in Texas begins and ends in the Rio Grande Valley. It was in this region in South Texas that farmers soon discovered they had more or less perfect conditions for growing the new fruit.

The first crops were planted in 1893 and they consisted entirely of white grapefruits. However, it wasn't long before farmers realized that the grapefruit was prone to mutation. The first new variety that arrived on the scene was the pink grapefruit. We have not been able to nail down a specific date, but we do know that both varieties were growing in Texas at the turn of the century.

It wasn't until 1929, however, that the grapefruit truly became an agricultural success. As incredible as it sounds, the grapefruit industry in the United States can be traced back to a single tree. This single tree produced a mutation, a new variety of grapefruit that was red and had a slightly sweeter taste than the earlier varieties.

The fruit was christened the “Ruby” and commercial production commenced almost immediately. In time the red Texas grapefruit became so popular that both pink and white variety were outlawed and only the red was grown in the Lone Star State. At present, Texas is the second biggest producer of grapefruits in the country, behind only Florida which is the leader in producing citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines. In fact, these two states account for over fifty percent of world grapefruit production. Really, no other country is even close.

What about the red Texas grapefruit? Well, while the state is not the country's leading producer of grapefruit, they can take pride in the fact that they have created nearly every American variety of grapefruit. For example, there are at least four popular varieties of the basic red Texas grapefruit. The Ruby Sweet and the Rio-Star are easily the most popular and are the primary reason why the red Texas grapefruit is the state fruit of Texas.

These days, grapefruits from Texas are used primarily in juices and as a simple breakfast staple, though foreigners have some very interesting and creative uses for them. Of the 23 million pounds of red Texas grapefruit that is exported each year to countries like Australia, Japan and Belgium, many of them are used in desserts and to add a tangy sweetness to ordinary meals, mostly meat dishes.

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