citrus by mail

Scott said:

Has anyone ordered some this year? From Florida, I mean.

I ordered some from a couple of groves last year and was very
disappointed. I suppose it was the weather of that fall, but the fruit
(mixed oranges and grapefruit) was unexceptional at best. I was hoping
there was a better crop this year.

FYI:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR2006011700266.html

Citrus by Mail, Worth the Wait

By Judith Weinraub
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 18, 2006; F01

"Citrus by mail? With all those supermarket bins full of fruit?

Nobody's suggesting you make a habit of it, but there are lots of reasons to
treat yourself to the really good fruit available online or by phone:

· You can eat fruit at the height of its season. Many online citrus sites
not only sell their fruit when it's due to come off the trees, but also help
you order it with explanatory charts and lists.

· You have access to terrific fruit that would probably never make it to
your local grocery or chain store -- either because it's top of the line and
saved for this market, or because supermarkets don't want to spend the extra
time and money required to stock specialty fruits.

· Fruit bought this way is fresh. "It hasn't been in a warehouse or a cooler
in a packinghouse for three weeks," says Allen Cushman, whose family has
been marketing Florida citrus since 1945.

This year's fruit crop was pummeled when four storms barreled through
Florida, the world's largest grapefruit producer. On Oct. 24, when much of
the fruit on the trees was too heavy to withstand the winds, Hurricane Wilma
was devastating. Its path was particularly tough on the grapefruit groves
and, according to Florida Citrus Mutual, Florida's largest association of
citrus growers, took out 47 percent of the crop.

The Food section was curious about how this year's specialty crop fared, and
ordered examples of citrus not regularly available in local stores. The
fruit was ordered just before Christmas, requesting delivery dates in the
first week of January. The growers don't guarantee delivery dates, but do
try to accommodate their customers.

Of the seven we requested, two deliveries arrived within 10 days, three came
within two weeks, and one, arriving after three weeks, was too late for our
tasting. Another company took time off after Christmas and told us they
could not deliver in a timely manner.

We sampled the fruit with two experts.

* * *

How do you recognize good citrus? It's not as easy as you'd think. Of course
the fruit shouldn't look banged-up or bruised, but green or brown blotches
on the outside don't reveal much about the inside. Weight is what counts.
Citrus should be firm to the touch and heavy for its size. A weighty orange
is more likely to be juicy than a light (dry) one. And stiffness can be a
sign of frost damage.

When you cut into citrus, its aroma should always be appealing. A thin skin
is a good indicator, too -- fruits with thick skin were usually developed
for ease of long-distance transportation. As for the taste, that's somewhat
personal. In general, citrus, like wine, is assessed by the intricacy of its
flavor and also by the balance of sweet and sour (sugar and acid). Sweetness
isn't necessarily a sign of good fruit, however, especially in grapefruit.

To help us evaluate some specialty fruits from Florida companies, we asked
two experts to help us out: Bonnie Moore, a former sous-chef at the Inn at
Little Washington who is now the culinary director and executive chef at
Foodfit.com; and Dean Gold, co-owner of Dino restaurant in Cleveland Park,
who worked as a buying coordinator and executive at the Fresh Fields and
Whole Foods companies for 10 years. Here are their assessments (companies
are in alphabetical order; prices include shipping and handling).

Blood's Hammock Groves http://www.bloodsgroves.com , 800-255-5188. One tray
Rosalie Red grapefruit, $36.95.

These Rosalie Reds were particularly pretty, with a touch of pink on the
outside and a deep rosy red inside. Marketed as sweet grapefruit, the
Rosalie Reds were a bit too sweet for our tasters, who preferred a more
astringent, but not bitter, taste. "But they're probably not sweet enough
for kids," said Moore. "They're good for eating now," said Gold, "but
somewhat bland, without a lot of flavor or aromatics."

Cushman's Limited Edition Fruit, http://www.honeybell.com , 800-776-7575.
HoneyBells, 14 pounds, $42.94.

HoneyBells look like oranges with a knobby top. They're usually sweeter than
oranges, and about 80 percent of them are seedless. Called tangelos by some
companies, HoneyBells are a hybrid of a Dancy tangerine and a Duncan
grapefruit and are available only in January. Ours, which were ordered from
Allen Cushman, the son of the man who named them, were heavy and firm but
not hard. Moore and Gold liked their smell and taste, noting a little spice
and hints of honey, but found them a little sugary.

"They're very low acid," said Gold. "Good for kids. And they would add a
real brightness to a fruit salad." They also praised the small center core
surrounded by nicely connected segments that did not pull apart from one
another. "The sacks are very juicy and plump," said Gold. "When you cut
through them, they don't collapse. They hold the juice." A good-quality
fruit overall, said our tasters.

Hale Indian River Groves, http://hales.com/ Empire Nova tangelos,
approximately 10 pounds, $25.93 .

Rounder than Cushman's HoneyBells and a deep orange color, these tangelos
were heavy for their size, and juicy. "They're really fragrant and really
good," said Moore: "Both orangey and spicy with a taste of honey." Gold
praised the fruit, too. "There's a lot of tangerine flavor, and nicely sweet
with a strong tangy component," he said. "Kids would like them. And they'd
make fabulous juice."

We included these in the tasting because the judges liked them so much. But
we seem to have received the last batch: They won't be available again until
November.

Hollieanna Groves, http://www.hollieanna.com , 800-793-7848. Half- bushel of
grapefruit, half Ruby Red and half Marsh White, $42.90.

Our tasting wasn't set up as a competition, but the Ruby Red grapefruit from
Hollieanna was the runaway star. Our tasters praised them for their nice
heavy feel, their excellent interior condition and, most of all, for their
taste. "They're not very sweet," said Gold. "They have real tang and a
lovely bitter aftertaste. "Not for mass-market America," said Moore. "Kids
probably wouldn't flock to them. But to me, they have much more
versatility -- you can eat them out of hand, cook with them, play off their
bitterness, and they're a real palate cleanser. "

The Marsh White grapefruit was somewhat plain, according to our experts, a
little bland and very acidic. "I look for more flavor, more balance between
sweet and sour," said Gold. "Disappointing," said Moore.

Policicchio Groves, http://www.juicycitrus.com/ , 321-452-4866. Star Ruby
Grapefruit, 1 tray ( quarter- bushel), $33.90 .

If judged on their looks, these grapefruit would have been tossed aside.
Their shape was fine, but the dark brown patches on the skin were leathery
and made them look damaged. Their weight was good, however, and when cut
open, they were a beautiful ruby red and exuded an appealing aroma. "They're
delicious," said both tasters. "They have the complex flavor [of the
Hollieanna Ruby Reds]," said Gold, judging these "only a little less
fabulous."

"Kids wouldn't like these," said Moore, "but chefs would. They have a
pleasant bitterness that would go well as part of a salad with avocado, bibb
lettuce, some of the juice, olive oil and salt."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:13:36 -0500, Scott <[email hidden]>
connected the dots and wrote:

~Has anyone ordered some this year? From Florida, I mean.
~
~I ordered some from a couple of groves last year and was very
~disappointed. I suppose it was the weather of that fall, but the
fruit
~(mixed oranges and grapefruit) was unexceptional at best. I was
hoping
~there was a better crop this year.

We were happy with the box my BIL sent this year.

maxine in ri

"Scott" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone ordered some this year? From Florida, I mean.

I ordered some from a couple of groves last year and was very
disappointed. I suppose it was the weather of that fall, but the fruit
(mixed oranges and grapefruit) was unexceptional at best. I was hoping
there was a better crop this year.

--
to respond (OT only), change "spamless.invalid" to "optonline.net"

<http://www.thecoffeefaq.com/>

I ordered from www.indianriverfruit.com and I have to say, I was horribly
disappointed. I ordered Dec 12th, and it arrived a week ago. I had to
immediately throw away 9 oranges, covered in mold. Another 5 were moldy by
the end of the next day.

The few we were able to eat were tasty, but no more so than the Cara Cara
oranges I can get locally, and not worth the entire ordeal.

kimberly

Scott said:

Has anyone ordered some this year? From Florida, I mean.

I ordered some from a couple of groves last year and was very
disappointed. I suppose it was the weather of that fall, but the fruit
(mixed oranges and grapefruit) was unexceptional at best. I was hoping
there was a better crop this year.

Considering the hurricane crop damage, I would not have thought citrus would
have done well. Order from California?

Jill

My Honeybell's arrived about a week ago, I order from Cushman's.

http://www.honeybell.com/

Becca

Becca said:

My Honeybell's arrived about a week ago, I order from Cushman's.

http://www.honeybell.com/

How'd they turn out? I've gotten them from Cushman's before, and the
fruit was good, but their price is kind of high. For a couple years I
ordered from Brown's Grove, it's a grower/shipper operation. I didn't
this year.

http://brownsgrove.com/products.html

I see that they're saying there's a shortage of honeybells due to
weather, I don't know if that is affecting quality.

You can also order the same fruit from California, they call them
Minneola tangelos, but I don't find them to be as tasty as the Florida
ones.

Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

Default User said:

Becca said:

My Honeybell's arrived about a week ago, I order from Cushman's.

http://www.honeybell.com/

How'd they turn out? I've gotten them from Cushman's before, and the
fruit was good, but their price is kind of high. For a couple years I
ordered from Brown's Grove, it's a grower/shipper operation. I didn't
this year.

http://brownsgrove.com/products.html

I see that they're saying there's a shortage of honeybells due to
weather, I don't know if that is affecting quality.

You can also order the same fruit from California, they call them
Minneola tangelos, but I don't find them to be as tasty as the Florida
ones.

I like the fruit from a Texas outfit:

http://www.pittmandavis.com/

They only ship their honeybells during a very narrow window, e.g. in
January...

They have lotsa other nice stuff too (meats, sweets, etc.); shipping is
included and the prices are quite reasonable...

--
Best
Greg

Gregory Morrow said:

I like the fruit from a Texas outfit:

http://www.pittmandavis.com/

Ditto. They've been around forever and we've ordered from
them just about as long. Love the grapefruit.

Windcat said:

Gregory Morrow said:

I like the fruit from a Texas outfit:

http://www.pittmandavis.com/

Ditto. They've been around forever and we've ordered from
them just about as long. Love the grapefruit.

They've been around over 80 years...

Good service too. One year I ordered a small ham from them (to be sent to a
gift recipient); they called to say they were out of the smaller size and
would send a larger one at no cost if that was okay with me...

Not many places have such service any more...plus which their prices are
*very* reasonable and include free shipping in the lower 48. Nice packaging
too...

Even their fruitcakes are dee - lish, that's a good sign ;-)

--
Best
Greg

Default User said:

Becca said:

My Honeybell's arrived about a week ago, I order from Cushman's.

http://www.honeybell.com/

How'd they turn out? I've gotten them from Cushman's before, and the
fruit was good, but their price is kind of high. For a couple years I
ordered from Brown's Grove, it's a grower/shipper operation. I didn't
this year.

http://brownsgrove.com/products.html

The honeybells were delicious, I just never know when they will arrive.
Thanks for the link.

Becca

Gregory Morrow said:

I like the fruit from a Texas outfit:

http://www.pittmandavis.com/

They only ship their honeybells during a very narrow window, e.g. in
January...

Thanks for the link, Greg.

Becca

Becca said:

Gregory Morrow said:

I like the fruit from a Texas outfit:

http://www.pittmandavis.com/

They only ship their honeybells during a very narrow window, e.g. in
January...

Thanks for the link, Greg.

My Mom just received a 45 lb. box of grapefruit from them (a gift from me),
she is raving about it...

--
Best
Greg

Gregory Morrow said:

My Mom just received a 45 lb. box of grapefruit from them (a gift
from me), she is raving about it...

What a thoughtful son you are. The ruby reds from the Rio Grande Valley
have been delicious this year, so juicy and sweet. I ate one yesterday,
only because I did not have enough time to eat two.

Becca