Honeybells Are An American Tradition

The new year brings the promise of hope and recovery to millions of Americans, even as the new decade echoes with possibility. The decade known as the “aughts” were a long haul for too many American men and women, but hope is just around the corner. Americans love to create. They’ve built and invented most of the world’s modern day conveniences and technologies, ranging from the biggest jet planes to the smallest electronic conveniences. Americans are so good at creating they’ve even invented foods. For example, though it’s not generally known, the Honeybell tangelo is a uniquely American invention.

What’s a Honeybell? What’s aTangelo?

A tangelo is an example of a fresh citrus hybrid fruit, a mixture of two different but compatible strains of fresh citrus fruit, in this case a tangerine and a grapefuit. The name tangelo comes from one of the first hybrid citrus fruits, which crossed the pomelo and the tangerine. A Honeybell tangelo is a cross between the Duncan grapefruit and the Dancy tangerine. It’s much like both its “parent” fruits, containing similar properties to each but also carrying its own unique characteristics. For example, though both its parents have seeds inside their pulp, the Honeybell fruit is completely seedless, making it one of the more intriguing mysteries for botanists.

The American Honeybell

The Honeybell tangelo was first bred in the early 1930s in Florida, the home of American citrus fruit. Farmers working in a village outside of Orlando, then mostly a fruit farming town, worked to get the mixture of grapefruit and tangerine exactly balanced. The nearby research station of the USDA released the fruit, then called the Minneloa tangelo, to the general public in 1931.

In time the new fruit came to be known as the Honeybell, owing to its rich and honey-like sweetness and for the bell-shaped divot on one of its ends. The Honeybell soon became an exquisite treat for fruit collectors and connoisseurs. Today, however, they’re available to the general public thanks to delivery from a number of online gift fruit basket boutiques.

Honeybells are so prized partly because they’re somewhat rare, a true American collectible. Honeybells reach their peak season for only a handful weeks in January, so ordering in advance is advised for most shoppers. Many Honeybell online retailers include samples of the fruit as part of an assorted fruit gift basket, along with several other fresh citrus fruit samples.

Taste the Sunshine with Hale Groves

At Hale Groves, we believe the best gifts come from the land, not a factory. For generations, our fruit has been grown slowly under the Florida sun, picked at its peak, and delivered fresh to your door. From sweet Navel Oranges to rare Honeybells, every gift shares the simple joy of real flavor—perfect for holidays, milestones, or everyday moments worth celebrating.

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