Image Courtesy of the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, Beltsville MD
Royal Grapefruit
It came from Cuba—a grapefruit without the tart, acidic bite. Imported by the Royal Palm Nurseries of Oneco, Florida, in the 1890s, it first appeared in the 1897 catalog bearing a regal name. Given its sweet character, there is little doubt that it was a natural cross between a grapefruit and a sweet orange that assumed the general configuration of the former and the mild disposition of the latter. It had one liability as produce—seeds—at least 25 in each fruit. This prevented it from being a mass market produce fruit. Yet it had one virtue that outweighed its seedy inconvenience—a rich, dulcet taste that seemed to hover between the flavor of the classic Duncan grapefruit and a sweet tropical pineapple. There was $$$ in that taste.
Groves were planted at the dawn of the 20th century along the Manatee River north of Sarasota Springs in Florida. E. B. Rood of Bradenton, Florida, in 1916 organized a juice manufacturing plant contiguous to the Royal plantings, and touted the bottled juice as “the most healthful, invigorating” beverage in the world. It hit the national market at a moment when hygiene and health was becoming a matter of public interest and governmental promotion. But the market did not explode until after 1919 when the Volstead Act made the sale of alcoholic drinks illegal. Sweet beverages boomed in Prohibition’s wake. And Royal grapefruit was substantially sweeter than the one other grapefruit being pressed for juice, the Duncan. Pure—natural—and sweet!
Rood made a point of marketing Royal Grapefruit Juice to hospitals, and then touting hospital adoptions as proof of its restorative character. Give the paucity of research on the nutritive character of juices, the fact of extensive hospital juice served as a medical warrant for the brand. Physical culturists embraced royal grapefruit juice avidly. Dancers and body builders became its disciples.
The other market that Bradenton pursued was canned citrus grocery store sales. Royal grapefruit segments were available in parts of the United States until the 1980s. Then the invasion of the ruby red and other sweet tinted varieties overran Florida, Texas, and California. Now the only reported commercial source of the tree is Owens Grove in Indiantown FL. the Royal remains one of the varieties maintained by the National Germplasm Repository at Riverside. Its USDA GRIN PI 539465:
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?1434401
Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, M. Strange, 1915.