i was in the local grocery store today and saw a fruit that i'd never seen. it was greenish-yellow, very wrinkled, and looked rotten. it is about the size of a grapefruit but is bell-shaped and looks like it's been dropped on the ground. it is appropriately called "ugly fruit". it is from jamaica. the label said it was a naturally occuring cross between tangerines and grapefruit, and was described as "acidy sweet and very juicy".

it was easy to peel. the skin was thick, and the inner skin was tough. the sections fall apart from each other easily. the first bite proved that the label didn't lie about juiciness. it was juicy to the point of being a nuisance. the juicebombs on the inside of the fruit were HUGE. easily quadruple the size of orange juicebombs. it was tart like an orange but not sweet. i may not have picked a ripe fruit, given my lack of knowledge of ugly fruit. i liked it, despite, as i tend to enjoy things that are more tart than sweet. the tremendous amount of juice was only barely manageable through stragetic lip placement during the bite. eating the slices whole would help if you have a larger mouth than i. the inner skin was annoyingly tough. the fruit is so juicy and tender that you don't have to chew it and are left chewing just the skin. i would recommend eating this fruit like a grapefruit to avoid the skin. those who prefer sweeter fruit could also add sugar.

the ugly fruit does not, in any way, shape or form, rival the perfect orange.
When I go to buy fruit I buy the brightest roundest lemons, the biggest smoothest tomatoes and the strawberrys and oranges which have least flaws. That is, I used to, before I went grocery shopping with a friend.

Reaching out for what appears to be the perfect lemon, firm, beautifully yellow and without any brown spots I hear him mutter "That lemon is too good looking.". "What?!"

Then he teaches me a trick to from this day on after a succesful shopping for groceries always end up with the fruit that tastes the most instead of the fruit that looks the best.

So his advice to me and mine to you is to choose the fruit that is a bit smaller, darker in colour with uneven shape and little brown spots, thereby avoiding the fast growing hormone treated belgian blue super fruit which pleases the eye but has grown so rapidly that the taste has had no time to mature and thus fails to please the sense of taste.

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