FoodFood InformationFruitCitrus Fruits
The name ugli is most appropriate, for this is the meanest-looking varietyof the citrus fruits. It looks like a very poor grapefruit with a rough,loose fitting, thick skin. The dull skin color is a mixture of green andrusset yellow. When fully ripe, the yellow portion of the skin takes onan orange-colored tint. The fruit feels spongy and the fruit comes to apoint at the stem end. However, the unattractive, hide like peel hides asurprisingly flavorful, juicy, sweet, fine-textured, pink-tinted flesh.
Ugli fruit is native to the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea. It isprobably an offshoot of the combination of a pomelo (the original grapefruit)and a sweet or Mandarin orange. The Jamaican crop is not very big and, sincethe supply is very limited, prices are always on the high side. Attemptsto grow ugli fruit in Florida have not met with much success.
It is a fine-flavored fruit, possibly a shade sweeter than a grapefruit,and should be stored in the refrigerator. The question is, Are they worthtwo or three times as much as the cost of a comparable-sized grapefruit?
Deamer 5/97