THE "UGLY FRUITS"

An ugli fruit is a Jamaica


It was discovered growing wild in Jamaica where it is mainly grown today. Its name derives from the unsightly appearance of its rough, wrinkled, greenish-yellow skin, wrapped loosely around the orange pulpy citrus inside. The light green surface blemishes turn orange when the fruit is at its peak ripeness. An ugli fruit is usually slightly larger than a grapefruit (but this varies) and has fewer seeds. The flesh is very juicy and tends towards the sweet side of the tangerine rather than the bitter side of its grapefruit lineage, with a fragrant skin. The taste is often described as more sour than an orange and less bitter than a tangerine, however, and is more commonly guessed to be a lemon-tangerine hybrid. The fruit is seasonal from December to April. It is distributed in the USA and Europe between November and April, and is on occasion available from July to September.

The fruit is also described as an exotic tangelo which is a citrus fruit that is a hybrid of a tangerine and either a pomelo or a grapefruit.

Ugli fruit are sold under two different brand names: Uniq Fruit which is a registered trademark of Brooks Tropicals, LLC. and UGLI which is a registered trademark of Cabel Hall Citrus Ltd.