Grapefruits: Forbidden Fruits or Monstrous Oranges?

Citrus x paradisi is commonly known as grapefruit. The grapefruit is in the family Rutaceae, which, among other traits, typically have strongly scented leaves and four- or five-petaled flowers.

It is in the genus Citrus, which is appreciated for attractively evergreen leaves, large white flowers and pulp sharply flavored with citric acid.

Its species name of paradisi honors its long-standing tradition as “forbidden fruit” of the Caribbean.

The sunshine state was the point of entry for the exotic plant on North America's continental soil. From Florida, cultivation leapfrogged to Arizona, California and Texas. Cultivation even spread to Puerto Rico, as detailed in the novel The Flamboyant by Lori Marie Carlson (born 1957), author, editor, teacher, translator and wife of Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951), educator, novelist and recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize to be awarded to an Hispanic. But economic and political interests concluded that production was not profitable for the Commonwealth.

Abandoned grapefruit plantations now have become prime targets for development. For example, the Dorado Beach Resort was built in 1958 on a former coconut and grapefruit plantation that was in operation about an hour’s automobile ride west of the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan. The world-renowned resort was designed by golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) for Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 – July 11, 2004), philanthropist, financier, conservationist and brother of 41st U.S. Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979).

It was Count Odet Philippe (1780 - 1869) who had selected the sunny Florida peninsula as the entryway to grapefruit culture in the United States of America. Originally from Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes Region of east-central France, the count sailed his ship The Ney (named in honor of esteemed Napoleonic commander Michel Ney, January 10, 1769 - December 7, 1815) into what is now known as Old Tampa Bay sometime between 1821 and 1823. He settled near what is now the Safety Harbor suburb of Tampa at a plantation that he called St. Helena in honor of the isolated, minuscule island in the South Atlantic Ocean where Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 - May 5, 1821), Napoléon 1er, died in exile.

Count Odet Philippe’s plantation, St. Helena, no longer exists. But the Tocobaga Native American ceremonial mound near which the Count built his home still can be seen. The mound, a National Historic Site known as the Safety Harbor Site, and the land of the former plantation are both now part of Pinellas County’s 122-acre (0.93 square kilometers) Philippe Park.

On his plantation, the Count cultivated avocadoes, bananas, limes, oranges and pears as well as grapefruits, the “rich man’s dish” of the time. He was known for his generosity in sharing both his knowledge and his produce and even his seeds with his neighbors. For example, the seedlings from the Count’s grapefruit grove ultimately became the basis of the variety that was popularized by Arthur Lewis "A.L." Duncan, a former Wisconsin lawyer affiliated with Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in Milwaukee who settled in Dunedin in the 1880s.

In partnership with another transplanted Wisconsinite, Lee Bronson "L.B." Skinner (January 27, 1861 - May 5, 1936), A.L. Duncan established the Milwaukee Groves. As manager, A.L. Duncan created a cold-hardy species which thrived during devastating freezes of the early 1890s. The ‘Duncan’ in fact is the very first variety upon which every single grapefruit-growing area of the world has built production.

Through the efforts of Count Philippe and pioneer grapefruit cultivators of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Florida took and never relinquished the lead in terms of highest and most profitable levels of grapefruit production in the United States of America. Because of the sunshine state, the United States continues to be the world’s leading producer of the exotic grapefruit. Ironically, the name of the fruit’s suspected country of origin does not figure on any list of the world’s currently leading grapefruit growing countries.

Specifically, the Caribbean island of Barbados is believed to be the birthplace of the grapefruit. According to local tradition, an English sea captain stopped in Barbados in 1696. He left the seeds of the Southeast Asian pomelo (Citrus medica) during his stay on the island. Barbados was one of the ports of call on his trading itinerary which encompassed both the East and the West Indies. The captain is variously named as Chaddock, Shaddock and Shattuck.

On Barbados, the grapefruit generally was assumed to be a subsequently spontaneous sport of the original Shaddock pomelo. A sport is a part of a plant that is different from the rest in terms of branch structure, flowers, or leaf color and shape. The sport can be removed from the plant and propagated.

According to local tradition, the very first grapefruit first appeared in Welchman Hall Gully, originally the plantation of Welsh Fusilier Regiment General William Asygell Williams and now the property of the Barbados National Trust since 1962. Back in England, General Williams originally had fought against the Royalists and for the Parliamentarians in the English Civil Wars of 1642 - 1646, 1648 -1649 and 1649 -1651. But he ultimately decided to switch his support to the Royalists. He therefore was punished with exile to the Caribbean once Parliamentarian leader Oliver Cromwell (April 25, 1599 – September 3, 1658) became Lord Protector of England, Ireland and Scotland from December 16, 1653 until death.

On Barbados, the General was known for his interest in plants. That interest was continued after his death. One of his descendants is supposed to have planted Shaddock pomelos on the property and ended up with the world’s first grapefruits.

Cultivation spread from Barbados northwesterward at a distance of 1,045 nautical miles (1,202.5 miles; 1,936.5 kilometers) to Jamaica, which became the center of grapefruit production by the end of the eighteenth century. On Jamaica, as well as elsewhere in the Caribbean, the grapefruit continued to be called the little or small shaddock. But it was most often touted as “forbidden fruit” of the Caribbean.

The first recorded instance of the use of the phrase forbidden fruit appears in The Natural History of Barbados published in 1750 by the Rev. Griffith Hughes (1707-1758), an Anglican minister, naturalist and writer from Towyn, Conwy, Wales. Reverend Hughes was seeking the identity of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. He found the grapefruit Eden-like in the delectability of its fruit and the ornamentation of the tree in the landscape:

"The Fruit, when ripe, is something longer and larger than the largest Orange; and exceeds, in the Delicacy of its Taste, the Fruit of every Tree in this or any of our neighbouring Islands." (Book V, p. 129)

The phrase became a popular way of identifying the grapefruit on Barbados. For example, it appeared soon afterward in the Barbados Journal of 1750 -1751 by George Washington (February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799). The teen-aged Washington arrived as a passenger of the Success in Bridgetown’s Carlisle Bay on November 2, 1751. He was to spend a total of six weeks, until December 22, 1751, on Barbados with his half-brother Lawrence Washington (1718 – July 1752), who suffered from tuberculosis.

The house where the young men stayed still stands. At that time, it was the home of Captain Croftan, Commander of James Fort. Nowadays, it is known as the Bush Hill House, atop the Bush Hill overlooking the Historic Garrison Area on the outskirts of Bridgetown.

During his stay on Bush Hill, the young Washington received a number of social invitations. He made the following observation regarding a dinner party held on November 10, 1751 in the residence of Judge Satus Maynard:

“After Dinner was the greatest Collection of Fruits I have yet seen set on the Table there was the Granadella the Sappadilla Pomgranate Sweet Orange Water Lemmon forbidden Fruit apples Guavas &ca. &ca. &ca.”

The fruit’s characterization as forbidden accompanied its spread to Jamaica.

Patrick Browne:

There, the phrase first is recorded as being used by Irish physician and botanist Patrick Browne (1720 - 1790) in his The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica of 1789:

"The Forbidden Fruit, or smaller Shaddock Tree. . . .cultivated in most parts of the country; particularly on the south side, where they are observed to thrive best."

Dr. Browne noted that the fruit "excels in sweetness" and commented on other ethnobotanical applications, such as in therapeutic remedies:

"They are very successfully administered in dry belly-aches and convulsive spasms; and one of the most effectual medicines that can be used to restore weakly limbs to their former vigour." (p. 309)

John Lunan:

The designation was continued by botanist-priest John Lunan in his Hortus Jamaicensis of 1814. But Reverend Lunan added another name: grapefruit. As he explained:

"There is a variety known by the name of grape-fruit, on account of its resemblance in flavor to the grape. . . .These fruits are generally in perfection, in Jamaica, in the month of December." (p. 171)

James MacFadyen:

The phrase still was being used in 1837, when James MacFadyen (1798 - 1850) published his Flora of Jamaica. Nevertheless, Scottish botanist MacFadyen went on to make his own contribution to the fruit’s name. He in fact is responsible for the fruit’s botanical name, Citrus paradisi. He chose to link the fruit’s citrus parentage with its forbidden reputation: the word paradisi derives from the Greek παράδεισος (paradeisos, “a pleasure ground”) at the same time that it calls to mind the paradisiacal Garden of Eden:

"Citrus Paradisi. Forbidden Fruit. The pear-shaped variety . . . possesses most of the sweet principle. . ." (Volume I, p. 131) 

The botanical name held until the twentieth century when puzzlement over the tree's origins resurfaced. For example, in his descriptive summary of the delectable fruit in 1904, Evanston, Illinois businessman-naturalist naturalistphotographer Charles S. Raddin observed:

"The Grape Fruit is really a monstrous orange."

He then detailed the plethora of common names for the "refreshing . . . . pleasing and ornamental" fruit:

"Several names have been given to the fruit. The term Shaddock . . . in recent years is chiefly applied to the pear-shaped forms, used only for ornamental purposes. The French call it the Pampelmous and the Italians, the Arancio. For some reason, the long-suffering name of Forbidden Fruit has been bestowed upon it. The term Grape Fruit, however, is derived from the fact that the fruit grows in clusters of from three to fifteen, thereby suggesting clusters of grapes. One variety of the Grape Fruit is peculiar in having a red pulp. . . ." (p. 86)

By the 1940s citrus specialists were questioning the true nature of the relationship between the forbidden fruit and the pomelo. MacFadyen had accepted the widespread assumption of the fruit as being a spontaneous sport of the pomelo. By the 1940s, however, citrus specialists were suggesting that the fruit was actually an accidental hybrid of the pomelo and the sweet orange (C. x sinensis). A persistent problem with the sport argument always had been the lack of any known reversion of the plant to the pomelo in terms of the latter’s fuzzy leaves; large, pear-shaped, sharper tasting fruit; and taller mature height.

The botanical name therefore tends to be written nowadays as Citrus x paradisi. The insertion of the x recognizes a hybrid origin to the grapefruit. A hybrid results from the interbreeding between plants of different taxa (Greek: τάξις, taxis, "arrangement"), which are biological units comprised of groups linked by similar traits. Generally, the grapefruit now is thought to be the result of accidental breeding in the wild between the pomelo and the sweet orange, which may have been introduced at about the same time on Barbados. The sweet orange in turn is thought to be an accidental hybrid of the pomelo and the mandarin (C. reticulata) back in their native
Southeast Asian habitats.

As is the case with the botanical name, the fruit’s common name has settled to one generally accepted choice, in this case, the grapefruit. But the use of the name is not achieved without controversy. For example, in 1962, Florida Citrus Mutual suggested that sales might improve with a new, more exciting designation. They were so overwhelmed by public protest to the contrary that they abandoned all further plans for a name change.

Apparently, grapefruit is an acceptable common name in English. It is a name with which consumers evidently feel comfortable.

To this day, grapefruit overall enjoys a worldwide reputation as an alluringly versatile fruit which paradisiacally enhances daily life with its intrinsic beauty, benefits, and flavors. Whether viewed as forbidden fruit or as a monstrous orange, the grapefruit continues to exert its unique appeal and to maintain the security of its position as a beneficial, familiar, desirable fruit which is featured in homes and restaurants throughout the world.

This article is dedicated to the memory of my paternal grandfather, August, who added owning a grapefruit orchard in Dunedin, Florida, to his impressive list of accomplishments. Although he predeceased my birth, I know of his admirable qualities through his son, my father, and I remember grandfather August and his poetic reverence for life every time I am in the presence of grapefruits.

My special thanks to:

• Talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the Internet;

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

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Browne, Patrick. The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica. In Three Parts. The Whole Illustrated with Fifty Copper-Plates. Illustrations by Georg Dionysis Ehret. London: T. Osborne and J. Shipton, MDCCLVI (1756).

• Available at: http://archive.org/details/mobot31753000808003

Ford, Jos. C., and Frank Cundall. The Handbook of Jamaica for 1908 Comprising Historical, Statistical and General Information Concerning the Island, Compiled from Official and Other Reliable Records. Twenty-Eighth Year of Publication. London: Edward Stanford; Kingston, Jamaica: Government Printing Office, 1908.

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• Available at: http://dspace.nelson.usf.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10806/138/Schnur_Heritage_Villagers_09_Moore_House.pdf?sequence=10

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• Available at: http://archive.org/details/starkshistorygui00star

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