Have you ever had the pleasure of enjoying the sweet goodness of a tangelo? These citrus hybrids have the sweetness of a tangerine and the juiciness of a grapefruit—the crossing of which created them. And another wonderful thing that makes them so great? No to very few seeds. I don’t often find them here in Arkansas.
I remember my first one. My maternal grandparents had a camping trailer, and in the fall of 1981, they took my parents, my three sisters, and I up to the Silent Valley Club camping resort—nothing as fancy as it sounds, but nice nonetheless. We were there for a week, swimming, riding our bikes (and that’s another story I’ll have to share later), and fishing for trout.
Maybe the third day in, my grandfather—whom I called Papa, of course—asked me if I wanted to go down into Banning with him. Well…yeah. Anything to get away from those bothersome younger sisters. With my father tagging along, it was just a trip for the guys.
Located up in the San Jacinto Mountains, the drive down into Banning took a rugged road with lots of switchbacks. A great experience. I don’t remember what we had been sent to get, but I am certain my grandmother had given Papa a detailed list. The only thing I do remember getting was two bags of tangelos.
We had just moved out from Chicago. I had never heard of tangelos. Oranges, sure. Even tangerines and grapefruits. But not a tangelo. They look almost like a pear-shaped orange. And they are easy to peel.
Well…we bought two bags of those scrumptious, delicious, sweet citrus gems. By the time we got back up to the campground, the three of us had eagerly consumed an entire bag. With all the graciousness we could muster, we let the girls have the other one.
Now I am hungry for a tangelo. I wonder if I will be able to locate one around here.
