"hybrid fruit" news and stories

At first glance, especially with this interior photo, this fruit looks like a cantaloupe. It's not. It's an orange-flesh honeydew melon. I first spotted these unusual yellow-skinned melons at the market this week. They were simply labeled "Orange Flesh," not as a distinct type of melon, but they smelled delicious, so I thought I would give them a try. Apparently, another name for these is the Temptation Melon and they are actually a hybrid between cantaloupes and honeydews. It has a smooth, thin yellow skin and a creamy orange interior that is both juicy and sweet - combining the defining traits of both melon types, though it actually tastes more like honeydew than cantaloupe. I highly recommend picking one up if you can find them.

Meyer lemons are not like ordinary lemons. They are actually a hybrid fruit, a cross between tangerines or mandarin orange and lemons, which is native to China. Meyer lemons were introduced to the United States shortly after the turn of the 20th century by a man named Frank Meyer, hence the name of the fruit. Most of the lemons are grown in California, but they are also cultivated in states like Texas and Florida.

Meyer lemons are smaller and more spherical than most lemons, with a thin peel that turns slightly orange or goldenrod-colored when it is ripe. The thinness of the peel, when compared to that of more traditional lemon varieties, is very noticeable and it does make the fruits more delicate. As a result of this, for many years, these fruits were not widely available outside the immediate areas in which they were grown, but they are now enjoying a more widespread popularity.

Tangelo is the name for a hybrid fruit, made from combining a grapefruit with a tangerine. Just as there are many varieties of tangerines and grapefruits, there are many different varieties of tangelos, all with slightly different taste profiles. They originated in Southeast Asia as many as 3500 years ago, but are grown widely wherever other citrus crops are now. The first intentional crosses in the United States were done in the 19th century. The most distinguishing feature of the tangelo is its “neck”, a pronounced bump on the top of the fruit. The neck may look slightly unusual, but it is extremely useful, since tangelos have deep orange, loose fitting peels when ripe and breaking off the neck makes them exceptionally easy to peel.