The Jamaican tangelo, also known by proprietary names ugli fruit (pronounced "ugly"), and uniq fruit (pronounced "unique"),Implied by See also is a

citrus fruit ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Mandarin orange, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, ...

that arose on the island of Jamaica through the natural hybridization of a

tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...

or orange with a

grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The flesh of the fruit is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark red. Grapefru ...

(or

pomelo The pomelo ( ; or pummelo, ''Citrus maxima''), also known as a shaddock, is the largest citrus fruit. It is an ancestor of several cultivated citrus species, including the bitter orange and the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid citrus fr ...

), and is thus a tangelo.Grapefruit: a fruit with a bit of a complex
in ''Art Culinaire'' (Winter 2007) The original tree is believed to have been a hybrid formed from varieties of Seville orange, grapefruit and tangerine. As a hybrid species, it is usually represented as ''

Citrus reticulata A mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), often simply called mandarin, is a small, rounded citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. The mandarin is small and oblate, unlike the ...

'' × '' paradisi''.Bastyra, Judy, and Julia Canning. ''A Gourmet's Guide to Fruit.'' Los Angeles: HP Books, 1989. Pg. 52.

Discovery

This tangelo was a natural hybrid, having arisen spontaneously like the grapefruit, near Brown's Town, Jamaica. It was discovered growing wild in or about 1917, then passed through several generations of budwood grafting, selecting for fewer seeds. Since the 1930s the main producer has been the Sharp family of Trout Hall plantation in Trout Hall village

Clarendon Parish, Jamaica Clarendon () is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish in Jamaica. It is located on the south of the island, roughly halfway between the island's eastern and western ends. Located in the Parishes of Jamaica#Counties of Jamaica, county of Middlesex Count ...

. It was exported to Canada and England by 1934, and to the United States in 1942. 'UGLI' is a

registered trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from ot ...

of Cabel Hall Citrus Limited, under which it markets the fruit, the name being a variation of the word "ugly", which refers to the fruit's unsightly appearance, with rough, wrinkled, greenish-yellow rind, wrapped loosely around the orange pulpy citrus inside.

Description

The light-green surface blemishes turn orange when the fruit is at its peak ripeness. The Jamaican tangelo is usually slightly larger than a grapefruit (but this varies) and has fewer seeds. The flesh is very juicy and tends toward the sweet side of the tangerine rather than the bitter side of its grapefruit lineage, with a fragrant rind. The taste is often described as sourer than an orange and less bitter than a grapefruit, however, and is more commonly guessed to be a lemontangerine hybrid. The fruit is seasonal, from December to April. It is distributed in Europe and the United States between November and April, and is on occasion available from July to September.

Gallery

File:Ugli fruit sections.jpg, Jamaican tangelo, peeled and sectioned File:Ugli.jpg, Roundish version

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1757759 Citrus hybrids Flora of Jamaica Grapefruit