{"id":33429,"date":"2013-06-03T20:06:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T20:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/a-florida-citrus-darling-the-honeybell\/"},"modified":"2022-02-11T11:00:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T11:00:15","slug":"a-florida-citrus-darling-the-honeybell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.halegroves.com\/blog\/a-florida-citrus-darling-the-honeybell\/","title":{"rendered":"A Florida Citrus Darling: The Honeybell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once tasted, it’s easy to understand why the Honeybell tangelo<\/a> reigns supreme on the A-list of Florida citrus connoisseurs. If you are tempted to simply squeeze the sweet, generously abundant juice directly into the mouth, it’s best to refrain. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on the rest of the Honeybell’s charms: the “package deal” of its lusciously textured, delicate flesh combined with its profuse juiciness. Eating the Florida citrus growers’ Honeybell is simply a fruit-eating experience you won’t soon forget.<\/p>\n

What Makes Honeybells Different
<\/strong>A hybrid of the Duncan grapefruit and the Dancy tangerine, both old favorites in their own right of Florida citrus<\/a> grove owners, the Honeybell is technically a Minneola tangelo. An important difference, however, lies in Minneolas grown in Florida citrus groves and those grown elsewhere. Honeybell Minneolas feature an only-in-Florida pampering in addition to that region’s uniquely Floridian growing environment, such as its soil and subtropical weather conditions.<\/p>\n

What to Look For
<\/strong>When purchasing Honeybell Florida citrus, look for an ovate shape with a distinctive bulged stem end, which makes the fruit resemble a bell (hence the “bell” within the name). Florida citrus growers’ Honeybells have a deeply hued, reddish-orange peel and dark-orange fruit with bright, richly colored juice.<\/p>\n

How to Store, How to Eat
<\/strong>Honeybells’ full flavor comes out best when eaten at room temperature, though you’ll want to store them in the refrigerator if you have them longer than three or four days. Long periods of condensation from refrigeration can cause surface mold to form on the skins, so rotate the fruit once a day and avoid storing Honeybells in bags or wrapping them tightly.<\/p>\n

Honeybell Availability
<\/strong>Florida citrus growers<\/a> and other sellers of the fruit offer Honeybells for only a few short weeks during the winter. Depending on the weather, they are marketed from the end of December to the first of February, with most sold during January.<\/p>\n

Due to the short availability of Honeybells grown in the Florida citrus fields, you may have a difficult time finding them in stores. The best way to get your hands on this darling of the citrus fruit dynasty is to purchase them online. Due to demand, Florida citrus sellers most often offer them in specialty gift baskets, but some sell the Honeybell in boxes, usually ranging in weight from five to 40 pounds.<\/p>\n

New Size Selection Offereda
<\/strong>Florida citrus are also making Honeybells available in two sizes: the more familiar, larger-sized fruit that can weigh in at one-half to three-quarters of a pound and the newer offering of the smaller, “mini” Honeybell<\/a>. And with that, there’s just one last word on the “limited edition” Honeybell tangelo offered exclusively from Florida citrus sellers: Order early – supplies run out fast! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once tasted, it’s easy to understand why the Honeybell tangelo reigns supreme on the A-list of Florida citrus connoisseurs. If you are tempted to simply squeeze the sweet, generously abundant juice directly into the mouth, it’s best to refrain. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on the rest of the Honeybell’s charms: the “package deal” of its lusciously textured, delicate flesh combined with its profuse juiciness. Eating the Florida citrus growers’ Honeybell is simply a fruit-eating experience you won’t soon forget. What Makes Honeybells Different A hybrid of the Duncan grapefruit and the Dancy tangerine, both old favorites in their own right of Florida citrus grove owners, the Honeybell is technically a Minneola tangelo. An important difference, however, lies in Minneolas grown in Florida citrus groves and those grown elsewhere. Honeybell Minneolas feature an only-in-Florida pampering in addition to that region’s uniquely Floridian growing environment, such as its soil and subtropical weather conditions. What to Look For When purchasing Honeybell Florida citrus, look for an ovate shape with a distinctive bulged stem end, which makes the fruit resemble a bell (hence the “bell” within the name). Florida citrus growers’ Honeybells have a deeply hued, reddish-orange peel and dark-orange fruit with bright, richly colored juice. How to Store, How to Eat Honeybells’ full flavor comes out best when eaten at room temperature, though you’ll want to store them in the refrigerator if you have them longer than three or four days. Long periods of condensation from refrigeration can cause surface mold to form on the skins, so rotate the fruit once a day and avoid storing Honeybells in bags or wrapping them tightly. Honeybell Availability Florida citrus growers and other sellers of the fruit offer Honeybells for only a few short weeks during the winter. Depending on the weather, they are marketed from the end of December to the first of February, with most sold during January. Due to the short availability of Honeybells grown in the Florida citrus fields, you may have a difficult time finding them in stores. The best way to get your hands on this darling of the citrus fruit dynasty is to purchase them online. Due to demand, Florida citrus sellers most often offer them in specialty gift baskets, but some sell the Honeybell in boxes, usually ranging in weight from five to 40 pounds. New Size Selection Offereda Florida citrus are also making Honeybells available in two sizes: the more familiar, larger-sized fruit that can weigh in at one-half to three-quarters of a pound and the newer offering of the smaller, “mini” Honeybell. And with that, there’s just one last word on the “limited edition” Honeybell tangelo offered exclusively from Florida citrus sellers: Order early – supplies run out fast!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-33429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fruit-facts","tag-honeybells"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38567,"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33429\/revisions\/38567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog2.halegroves.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}