Growing the Honeybell Orange
Hybrid fruits are quite common in the US. The most famous one is the grapefruit, which is a cross between a pomelo and a sweet Jamaican orange. It was discovered on the island of Barbados in the 18th century. Thousands of years earlier, the ancient pomelo was crossed with a tangerine to create the modern tangelo. Historians inform us that the fruit was developed in Ancient China more than 3000 years ago.
The pomelo never truly caught on in America, but one of its descendents did. America is the world leader in grapefruit production with about half of the annual crop. More than seventy percent of them are grown in Florida. It is no wonder that Florida has been ground zero for fruit hybridization research. Scientists have been crossing different species of citrus fruits for decades now. Their goal has always been to produce bigger, juicier, and tastier fruit.
The Honeybell orange is one of the great success stories of these experiments. A cross between a Duncan grapefruit and a Dancy tangerine, the Honeybell was released to the public in 1931. Fruit lovers were wild about its taste, size, and juiciness right from the start. Commercial growers, on the other hand, were not especially fond of it.
The same things that make the Honeybell orange a joy to eat make it a pain in the neck to cultivate. For one thing, the fruit has the thin, loose skin or rind of a tangerine. Now, this is great for customers. It makes the tangelo easy to peel. But for growers, it presents a whole host of potential problems. As a general rule, thin skin means that a fruit will be more sensitive to cold temperatures. This means that the crops will typically have lower yields, and, as a result, the harvest season will be shorter.
In fact, no fruit that we have ever encountered has a shorter growing season than the Honeybell orange. The best an orchard owner can hope for is four weeks of freshness during which the crop can be handpicked and packaged. But that is seldom the case. Most often than not, the entire crop must be picked during the last two weeks of January. As you might expect, this puts an incredible amount of pressure on growers. They often have to hire extra workers who have experience with Honeybell oranges, and they aren’t easy to find!
Even though prices and demand are generally high, an owner can lose money growing Honeybells if the crop is a poor one. Investing in these rare tangelos truly is a gamble. Because they are a high maintenance fruit, it costs the grower a lot more to bring them to market. They must hire trained workers who can handpick each and every Honeybell orange. The fruit is so delicate that it must be packaged in special trays for shipping. Packing them in large creates or boxes like regular tangerines and oranges is out of the question.
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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