Ruby Red Saves the Day

from Elegant Island Living - March 2021

by Elegant Island Living Media Group

Real Estate

When Life

gives you lemons

The U.S. is the world’s third largest producer of citrus fruit, after Brazil and China. That’s an impressive feat when only Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona grow commercial crops! When it comes to grapefruit, the U.S. is unmatched, growing more than one-third of the world’s supply. Florida is our top producing state, supplying approximately 75% of the crop. Ironic, given the fruit’s chilly reception when it arrived there in the 1800s.

Originally thought to be an offshoot of the pomelo, grapefruit is a relative newcomer to the commercial citrus family. Although it was first distinguished as a different species in James MacFayden’s Flora of Jamaica in 1837 with the botanical name, Citrus paradisi, that name was adjusted in 1948, when citrus specialists deemed it an accidental hybrid between the pomelo and orange. Upon its arrival in Florida, the tree was grown only as a novelty and fruit was little utilized. Citrus lovers who had been raised on sweet oranges were turned off by the sour-bitter taste of the white-fleshed fruit. As the booming orange industry thrived in the Sunshine State, grapefruit was more of a novelty crop that was not sold commercially. Then, in two-stepped Texas and changed the industry.

Though locals were slow to embrace grapefruit, Texas fruit farmers continued to plant it. This diligence paid off when they discovered that grapefruit was prone to mutation, and a pink variety began to grow. Although it tasted like the original white grapefruit, the new pink version let farmers know that other varieties were possible. Based on knowledge of orange mutations over hundreds of centuries, grapefruit farmers gambled on the chance that the next variety would be sweeter than its bitter ancestors. That bet paid off big in 1929 when an orchard owner discovered a red grapefruit growing on a pink grapefruit tree. That mutation, given the name Ruby Red, was the first grapefruit to receive a U.S. patent and gave rise to the Texas Red grapefruit industry. With its striking red flesh and sweet taste, the fruit was an instant hit. The Texas Red became the official fruit of Texas in 1993.

The impact this single discovery had on the grapefruit industry cannot be overstated. Before the Ruby Red, grapefruit was largely overlooked or treated as an exotic island fruit by most Americans. After Ruby came along, grapefruit became one of the nation’s favorite breakfast foods and spurred a diet trend. Although Florida eventually regained the lead in grapefruit production, the current success of the U.S. grapefruit industry and the evolution of more popular varieties of grapefruit must be credited to the persistence of Texas farmers and the state’s Ruby Red discovery.