Ugli Fruit

Beauty may be skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone.
-Redd Foxx

While walking though the grocery store this month, my friend Nick and I were amused to find in the produce section a basket of what looked like grapefruit that had been rolling around in the back of a truck for about 2 months. Our amusement was heightened when we found out that the name of these pitiful looking specimens was actually ugli fruit. We were tempted to believe that this was some kind of hoax, a way to pass off the dregs of the grapefruit harvest as some kind of exotic novelty.

Well, apparently they really are an exotic novelty, from Jamaica. According to Wikipedia, the new unaccredited authority on everything, "an ugli fruit is a citrus fruit created by hybridizing a grapefruit (or pomelo according to some sources) and a tangerine, and is sometimes called uniq fruit or unique fruit. Its species is Citrus reticulata x Citrus paradisi."

Well, in the spirit of exploration and as a favor to my legions of loyal readers I decided to buy one and see what it was like. The rules of produce selection apparently no longer applied to this homely victual so I chose a particularly forbidding brute with a scuffed, loose-fitting rind and brought it up to the register with my other groceries. The lady at the check-out apparently hadn't been informed that her store carried such oddities. She took one disdainful look at the thing and asked me if it was on sale. I probably could have convinced her they were giving them away much quicker than I was able to convince her that it was actually called an ugli fruit. She simply wouldn't believe me until I showed it to her on the little produce guide she had. At that we both had a good laugh. When I paid and was leaving she said "have fun with your ugly fruit" obviously thinking "these gringos blow their money on the stupidest things."

At home I peeled the inelegant fare, the skin came off easily, and broke it into sections. The membrane around the sections was also quite thick, like a pomelo, so I peeled that off as best I could and ate the juicy pulp vesicles inside. It was nowhere near as tart as a grapefruit or an orange, the acidity was quite mild. It was also not bitter, but lightly sweet. Maybe it was just the specimen that I got, but it seemed to me that the best word to describe it is bland. Like watered down orange juice. I'm not sure what one would do with it either, maybe it could be used in a salad. You can also check the official Ugli Fruit web page for recipes. Good luck.

And now my final musing. Do ugli fruit grow on the proverbial ugly stick? If so, when walking through the jungles of Jamaica, be careful not to get hit by falling ugli fruit.