Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-05-30
THE sHADDocK.
A Fruit from China That is Becom-
ing Generally Liked.

The shaddock, or ''grape fruit, ;" as it
is sometimes called, is tropical fruit
that people in this country are Just COM
ing to know and learning to like. Every
body has seen the big, light yellow
globes on the fruit stands in the streets,
and about everybody has tasted them.
The verdict Is usually disapproyal.
Most people, when they bite into their
initial shaddock, have their mouths made
up for the taste of an orange. The acid
ulous, piquant flavor Of the shaddock is
In the nature of disagreeable surprise,
and the fruit is at once set down as not
enticing.
Shaddocks must be eaten rightly, and
really to like them is in most instances
an acquired taste Very few of the peo-
pie who eat shaddocks habitually, and
shaddock eating is habit with some
people. but had to learn to like them.
Another cause for the slow growth in
popular favor OF the shaddock is that it
is impossible to tell by the appearance
of a shaddock whether it is ripe or not.
An unripe shaddock is as disagreeable
to the taste as a ripe one Is pleasant, and
it often happens that an experimenter's
first shaddock is a green one, and be-
cause it is so sour as to make his jaws
seem loosened, he condemns all shad-
docks because of this one. The color of
the shaddock is a pale yellow, almost
green in its paleness, and this color
deepens but little after the shaddock has
attained its full size, which is anywhere
from the size of base ball to the size of
small foot ball, though it takes week
or two of sunshine to thoroughly ripen
a shaddock after il has attained its full
size. Shaddocks grow on tree that
looks much like an orange tree-like it,
being an evergreen. They grow very
thickly all over the tree, much more
thickly than oranges.
81 have seen a little twig no bigger
than my little finger" said fruit deal
er recently, with five or six big shad
docks on it. The twig didn't look strong
enough to hold their weight. A COM
paratiyely small tree will often bear as
many as 1000 shaddocks at time.
They grow rapidly and easily wherever
oranges grow, and they are rapidly COM
ing into favor with the public. Down
South they are much liked, and nearly
everybody eats them. But in the North
they are less known, / presume there
are 300 or 400 barrels of them sold here
in Washington each week, though the
sales this season have not been as large
rs last Their season is just the same
as that of the orange, and they are
packed and shipped just as oranges are.
The taste for them is an acquired one,
though, Just as the taste for tomato is.
A Florida fruit paper a short time ago
printed an article 10 the effect that there
was fortune awaiting the man who had
nerve enough TO plant n shaddock grove.
They are certainly on the rise to popular
favor, and / would not be surprised if |
they should come to be as much eaten
as oranges are. d"
The shaddock is native of China, it |
is said, and the story goes that naval
officer who ate and liked them there |
brought home some of the seeds and |
planted them in Florida. For long
while the trees were valued only for
their picturesqueness. Finally, though, |
Southern people got to liking the fruit,
and now the taste is spreading all over
the country. They are sometimes called |
grape fruit, on account of their tart /
flavor, and there is quite general inn
preston that shaddocks grow on vines;
but Southern people, the story goes, for
want of better name, gave them that
IF the navy captain who introduced
the fruit into this country. Shaddocks
are also grown in Lower California,
though most of them come from Florida.
They are sold on the fruit stands, ac-
,ording to size, at from cents apiece to
.hree for quarter, or, for very large
)nes. Is cents apiece. They vary in
luality as much as oranges do, and while
he good ones are very good, the bad ones,
+ green, are very bad. Those with
smooth, bright skins are the best, and
Is to getting green ones, it is impossible
o tell whether shaddock is ripe with
,ut tasting Washington Critic.