Eating grapefruit throughout the winter will help you stay healthy throughout the year. During the winter it's easy for people to pick up viruses, colds, and other illnesses that can continue to impair the immune system throughout the year. But eating a grapefruit everyday will give your body the Vitamin C and other vitamins it needs to fight off colds and illnesses during the winter so that you don't end up with a compromised immune system later in the year. Like oranges, grapefruits are full of vital nutrients that your whole body needs in order to work as efficiently as…

Once the holidays are over the hardest part of the New Year starts – getting back in shape. After tossing your healthy diet to the wind for six to eight weeks during the winter holidays it can be a real struggle to get back on track. A great way to kickstart your new, healthy diet and exercise routine is to add Ruby Red grapefruit to your daily diet. Grapefruit contains a lot of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs to stay healthy, and it's an easy to transport snack that you can take anywhere with you. Ruby Red…

Image via Wikipedia 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…

All grocery stores and supermarkets stock fresh fruit, which means that most Americans have easy access to popular citrus varieties. Why then are online fruits sellers popping up all over the place? Located mostly in the citrus-producing states–Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona–online sellers are filling a gap in the fruit market. What is this gap? As any fruit lover or foodie will tell you, the selection of fresh anything at the average supermarket leaves something to be desired. But the issue is arguably the most egregious in the fruit section, where only the most popular fruits and fruit varieties make…

Image via Wikipedia A flavonoid is an organic compound found in citrus fruits, like oranges and grapefruits, and vegetables. There are particularly high concentrations of a flavonoid called Naringenin in Texas grapefruit. Why is this important? Well, studies have shown that this particular flavonoid works as an antioxidant and helps repair the damaged DNA of prostate cancer cells. According to recent numbers, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer for American men. It is also the second deadliest after lung cancer. The statistics are quite sobering. One out of every six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer…

Image by ladybugbkt via Flickr The first grapefruit crop in Texas was planted in 1893. The state had joined the union only a few decades earlier in 1845 and farmers were desperate for reliable agricultural products. Though cotton and cattle had been sold for years, there was a definite dearth of fruits and vegetables. With the highest acreage of arable land in the nation, farmers were free to experiment a bit with exotic crops. The grapefruit was one of them. The new fruit had come from Florida, which cultivated its first grapefruit crops in 1823. But few Floridians actually enjoyed…

Anthropologists inform us that the human species has been about four million years. Scientists have identified more than a dozen distinct species that belonged to the hominoid family. Of course, they all had one thing in common. Give up? They all had to eat to survive. Why did they eat certain foods? As a general rule, hominids were omnivores, meaning that they ate both plants and meats. But long before we had scientists to analyze foods and create those nutritional labels for everything, most species knew what to eat based on appearance, smell, and taste. In fact, the olfactory sense…

If you want to really impress your guests at your holiday parties this year make sure that your bar is stocked with plenty of grapefruits, oranges, lemons and other citrus fruit. Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice is the perfect addition to cocktails because the slightly tart taste of the grapefruit balances out the super sweetness of some types of liquor and gives other alcohol a light, tasty flavor. Always use fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice in your cocktails. Frozen or store bought juice rarely has the same delicious taste as fresh squeezed. Grapefruit segments, orange peel, and candied tangerine peel…

While some people often give full credit of sweet citrus fruit to oranges, tangerines deserve just as much credit. They delicious and smaller versions of the orange are full of the same flavors that make citrus wonderful. In fact, tangerines also carry the high levels of vitamin C and folic acid that helps keep your immune system and heart healthy. Plus there is a good dose of potassium and fiber in every serving. Unlike unhealthy sweets tangerines offer you the delicious alternative to unhealthy snacking. When you are looking for the perfect tangerine to enjoy, you want to be sure…

Image by kthread via Flickr Honeybells are the perfect fruit to eat to help you get fit and healthy in the new year. Normally after the holiday season when people have been gorging on sweets and rich foods for a month or more they start to make plans to get fit and healthy after all that overindulgence. But after eating sweets for so long it can be really difficult to cut back on sweet, calorie laden foods. You will crave the rich chocolates, delicious cookies, and other treats you've been enjoying with abandon all during the holdiays. Honeybell tangelos are…