History of the Texas Grapefruit

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How did a subtropical fruit from the West Indies become the first fruit to receive a U.S. patent? How did it change colors? And why does it call Texas home? In this article we are going to answer all of those questions as we review the interesting history of the Texas grapefruit.

Though the grapefruit was first documented by a Welsh explorer on the Island of Barbados in 1750, the first crop was most likely cultivated in Jamaica sometime during the 17th century. Since the grapefruit is a hybrid fruit, a cross between the Jamaican sweet orange and the Indonesian pomelo, historians can trace its history back to the introduction of pomelo seeds.

It was in the mid 17th century that an English commander brought the seeds with him to Jamaica after a brief sojourn in Indonesia. The fruit was cultivated shortly thereafter and then crossed with the native orange. The grapefruit is still called Shaddock in Jamaica after the man who brought the first pomelo seeds to the island.

In 1823, a Spanish count by the name of Odette Philippe brought the grapefruit to the United States. But the grapefruit was far from an overnight success and few crops were cultivated in Florida. The reason for this may have been the relatively high level of acidity–the grapefruit is the third most acidic fruit after the lemon and the lime–and the fact that sugar was a delicacy at the time.

But even so, the grapefruit eventually made its way to Texas, possibly as a gift from Spanish missionaries. The first Texas grapefruit crop was planted in South Texas in 1893. These early crops were comprised entirely of white varieties and later pink varieties.

As crops increased and the local population developed a taste for this fascinating new fruit, the state began to export its first commercial shipments in 1920. But even though farmers were starting to make good money from grapefruit cultivation, it was still very much a foreign fruit. That was until a farmer discovered a red grapefruit growing on a pink grapefruit tree in 1929. The fruit was a simple mutation, but it would give rise to the Texas Grapefruit Industry.

In the coming years the new Texas grapefruit became a statewide phenomenon as farmers attempted to cultivate a new red variety by using the reddest bud mutations they could find. Why did farmer flip over the new red grapefruit? No, it wasn't just the color. The Texas grapefruit was also said to be much sweeter than the white and pink varieties and it appealed to people who had never much liked grapefruit.

The new red Texas grapefruit was later renamed the “Ruby” for marketing purposes. The fruit would become so popular that Texas officially eliminated white and pink grapefruit varieties in 1962 to focus solely on the “Ruby.”

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