new for us friday: ugli fruit

We have a new grocery store in our neck of the woods–woo-hoo!–and it has a rockin’ fruit and veggie department.  Owen, Cora, and I found so many exotic and new-for-us items over there, we hardly know where to begin.

So we decided to start on a fruit that was on sale (that helps!) and one looked a little different but not too, too different. We weren’t up for something crazy like kohlrabi or inky like beets or tricky like rhubarb.  We wanted new, but not earth-shattering new.

So we settled upon Ugli Fruit.

• Ugli Fruit: Really, it’s ugly, but not that, that ugly if you ask our opinion.

Owen noticed it first and said, Hey is that a green orange?

I said, I have no idea. I think it’s a lime or something.

Then we saw the sign: Ugli Fruit — 2 for $3.99

So it’s an Ugli Fruit, I said. Doesn’t look that ugly to me. Do you think it’s ugly inside?

Owen said, I have no idea. Maybe. Let’s try it.

Owen and his not-so-ugly-Ugli Fruit

So we picked up two of them and went on our merry way.

When Maddy got home from school, we shared our new-for-us fruit with her. She had to be there for it; we couldn’t try something new without her (according to Owen and Cora).

I said, Maddy, you’ll never believe this, but this fruit has the silliest name ever. It’s called Ugli Fruit.  Any idea why?

Because it just looks strange? she said. And also kind of ugly, I guess.

We talked about a few things before we cut the poor Ugli Fruit open:

• How does it feel?
• What fruit does it resemble?
• How heavy is it?
• Do you think it has seeds or a pit? Why?
• Where might this fruit grow, on trees, a bush, or in the ground?

And then I cut it in half, and we were amazed: It looks like an orange!! It’s an orange twin!

There are pieces–just like an orange and a grapefruit!

It’s juicy! Where are the seeds?  Let me try!

It’s easy to peel–really easy to peel–I can do it!

 

And though it looked like a happy, juicy, sweet orange, our Ugli fruit was not so.  It had a funny texture to Maddy; she said it’s too tough for me.

Cora spit hers out and said, It’s sour! It’s too sour on my tongue!

Owen chewed his, thought about it, and said, It’s okay. But I think I like oranges better.

And that’s how I felt–it was juicy, for sure, but it wasn’t sweet like I thought.  And the greenish peel made me think sour even before I tasted it.  So funny how colors affect our tastebuds.

So will we pick up the Ugli again? Probably not. But if we do, I’ll certainly revisit the gorgeous Ugli Fruit website, where we learned a few FUN facts about Ugli Fruit:

• Ugli is actually the registered trade mark under which Cabel Hall Citrus, Ltd. markets its brand of tangelos from Jamaica (so they’re called TANGELOS!!)
• This fruit is grown exclusively in Jamaica, and it was found growing wild over 80 years ago!
• It’s believed to be a hybrid of the Seville orange, grapefruit, and tangerine families.
• Can be peeled like a tangerine or cut in half and eaten like a grapefruit.
• Tangelos make great juices, delicious hot toddies (just add rum!), sweetened with honey or brown sugar, or used in other recipes (that look amazing).

But like all of our New For Us Fridays, the purpose is to get us to try new things, to send us out of our comfort zone a little, to simply step out of the norm a bit.

I haven’t done a link-up for a while, but if you have tried something new in the past few weeks–books, foods, lessons, shows, products, whatever–link it up! (or share it in a comment–either way works and will inspire others to try new things as well!)