Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A to Z Challenge - U is for Ugli Fruit

This morning I was stymied. This is the day for the letter "u" and I couldn't think of a single thing in nature that begins with that letter. I could always fall back on the most obvious "U is for Umbrella" and write something about rain, but that would be so.... obvious and boring.

So I did a Google search and came up with several things beginning with the letter "u". One I'd actually heard about before but had forgotten, the ugli fruit. My daughter had picked one up at a Whole Foods market and shared it with me some years ago. I'm surprised I forgot about it. It really is an ugly little fruit, but it tastes good.

Inside of Ugli Fruit
Here is some of what I found on Wikipedia. UGLI is the trademark of Cabel Hall Citrus Limited and under which it sells its Jamaican tangelo, a citrus fruit created by hybridizing a grapefruit,   an orange and a tangerine. The fruit was first discovered growing wild, possibly having developed in the same way grapefruit was created, in Jamaica where it is mainly grown today. It has an unsightly appearance with rough, wrinkled, greenish-yellow rind, wrapped loosely around the orange pulpy citrus inside.

The light green surface blemishes on the ugli fruit turn orange when it is at its peak ripeness. The flesh is very juicy and tends towards the sweet side of the tangerine rather than the bitter side of its grapefruit lineage, with a fragrant rind. The taste is often described as more sour than an orange and less bitter than a tangerine. The fruit is seasonal from December to April. It is distributed in the United States and Europe between November and April, and sometimes is available from July to September.

I found images and more information about the ugli fruit on this website.  

Have you ever eaten an ugli fruit?

6 comments:

Dana said...

I've seen them in the grocery store, but I've never bought them. Now that I know what they are, I'll give them a try!

Rebecca Alexander said...

I love uglis, we can only get them a few weeks of the year where I live, but they are delicious, and no-one else likes the look of them so the kids don't pinch them!

Laura Eno said...

You're right...that's an ugly fruit. Nice name for it! I haven't tried one, probably thought it was rotten or something. :)

Laura
A to Z of Immortals, Myths & Legends

Maryannwrites said...

Rebecca, you are so right about them being too ugly to touch. LOL Maybe they don't have many germs on the skins.

Laura, I don't think I would have tried one except for the fact that my daughter highly encouraged me to. (smile)

Dana, glad I could introduce you to a new taste treat.

Gail M Baugniet - Author said...

We have the fruit here and I've eaten it several times. The fruit is big and I find myself shying from purchasing it, though. Poor thing, with ia name like Ugli!
http://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com Theme: A World of Crime

ETowns said...

I have tried ugli fruit - my kids and I pick a fruit we've never had every so often to experience. They have great flavor!