The citrus family is one of Nature’s obviously blended families. Citrus fruit is the product of what is colourfully referred to as “interfertile”, meaning that they are capable of being interbred with others in their line to produce successful varieties. In citrus’ case, the five founders of their family are Citron, Pure Mandarin (not to be confused with the 3 lb bag by the same name found in the produce section at No Frills), Pomelo, the much debated Micrantha, and Kumquat (which is more like that distant uncle who became a hippie, moved to a commune out-of-province when he was 17, and nobody ever invites to Thanksgiving).
Of the 3 main founders, Citron, (Pure or Wild) Mandarin, and Pomelo, we get the full spectrum of what we now embrace as our citrus selection. Wild Mandarin had a little fling with Pomelo (and to be honest, it seems like EVERYONE did!) and the result was called Bitter Orange. This category holds sour oranges, Sevilla oranges, and marmalade oranges. “Bitter” kind of gives away the taste so don’t bother reading into things.
Bitter Orange met up with Citron after work one night and now we have Lemons. The date is a bit sketchy, but some suggest that this little tete-a-tete happened during the 1st Millennium BC. (Those were the days before a written language became widespread–once it did, everything little thing started to be written down. I suppose written record keeping became at that point what Instagram has become to us today.)
Thankfully, it was Lemon and its juice that the English physician James Lind, in 1747, asked sailors to add into their diets when they were going on long voyages, and which was finally found to halt scurvy in so many sea-going men and women.
Lime and its juices were also tried but were never found to be up to the job. Although the British tried to keep this anti-scurvy treatment a secret, hoping to get the edge on all other countries’ sailors, once the word that the English were juicing leaked out, the nickname Limey began to be hurled at them as an insult. Although the insult didn’t end up landing due to the ineffectiveness and dismissal of lime as a cure for scurvy, the name stuck. Now you know.
Wild Mandarin and Pomelo tried their magic again and were able to mix up the balance enough to produce the first domesticated Mandarin (Mandarin Jr.) and his sister, whom they called Sweet Orange. Bitter Orange must have been furious! And bitterer.
Later, in a rather unbecoming move, the two of them, Sweet Orange and the first attempt at domesticating that Wild Mandarin spirit, found themselves together one stormy night and Mandarin (Jr. Jr.) was produced. That is the variety that we now enjoy from approximately November all the way until April.
This Jr. Jr. version of Mandarins have a stronger and sweeter taste than Sweet Orange (which we uninspiringly call…an Orange) and we often reach for it when using citrus in salads or desserts. We also dip its little zest into chocolate or use it to flavour vodka, amongst other less important things.
Sweet Orange (which I JUST said we should refer to by its common name!) went dancing with Pomelo in the Caribbean in the 17th century (Vacations! Am I right?), and the result of that indiscretion is what we now call a Grapefruit. Everyone agreed that it was an accident and, initially, it was even referred to as the ‘forbidden fruit’.
Public Service Announcement: Grapefruit juice carries a chemical (furanocoumarin if you must know) that could react unfavourably when mixed with certain medicinal drugs, so please do not go lapping it up without consulting those little write-ups they give you with your prescription at the pharmacy.
And now, back to our story.
As we know, Grapefruit now comes in three flavours. White Grapefruit was the original colour and is regarded as the tartest of the colours. The sweeter Pink version was discovered in roughly 1906. Red Grapefruit came as a complete surprise to a Pink Grapefruit farmer in Texas around 1929 and is much sweeter yet. Ruby Red (known to its horticultural friends as Redblush) went on to be embraced as Texas’ state fruit. (By the way, Texas’ state vegetable is a specific sweet onion. They also have a state flying mammal called the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat. Fancy.)
Grapefruit crossed paths with Mandarin (Jr. Jr.) and produced Tangelo. Tangelos don’t carry the furanocoumarins of their Grapefruit parent so are safe to enjoy along with your prescription drug cocktail at breakfast. These fruits are about fist-sized and have distinguishing bumps where they were attached to the tree. In silhouette, this sort of resembles that silver topper that holds the little loop on a Christmas tree ornament.
Tangelos are definitely not the extent of the vast citrus family. As the family has navigated through its interfertile evolution, there have been any number of successful outcomes as the main players have square-danced their DNA into variations. From Buddha’s Hand (the fruit, not Buddha’s ACTUAL hand), Blood Oranges, Rangpur Limes, the sweet Meyer Lemons, and Bergamots, to the almost alarming Finger Limes of Australia, citrus has spent it’s time being creative and willing to try new things.
Since we are now in the season that rewards us with so many of the citrus fruits, we too should open our minds to the many options that have been made available to us—if a fruit can be willing and creative, then shouldn’t we return the favour? Besides, a regular dose of Vitamin C would do us the world of good these days.
