Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Sweeties

Hello!  It's Cate back again.

The past two weeks you've had normal food while I hosted two of my fellow LIS authors. Today you get me and the weird healthy foods again.

Just kidding.

But I do have something unusual to share -  my newest discovery and my absolute to-die for favorite fruit.

Have you ever had a Sweetie?

Oh, my word!!!! They are the most amazingly delicious fruits that no one I know has ever heard of.
(How's that for a sentence? *wink wink)


Two weeks ago my husband and I were in Costco and I saw these bags of things called Jaffa Sweeties.

I'd seen Jaffa oranges from Israel before, but these fruits were yellow and green and looked like small grapefruit. I was curious, so I bought some.








When I got home and tasted them..... I don't even know what to say but OH.SO.DELICIOUS.

They're sweeter than grapefruit and soooooooo juicy. I'm not sure I ever ate anything this juicy!

It gets even better. I looked them up online.

It turns out they are a hybrid of a pomelo and a grapefruit. Remember I introduced you to pomelos back in January? Some research that was done show that these fruits are really good at lowering cholesterol! http://www.israel21c.org/israeli-fruit-hybrid-lowers-cholesterol/

Okay - the bad news. They're only available for a very short season in winter and COSTCO is the only place I've been able to find them. :(


They're incredibly easy to peel - like an orange. They're sweet and apparently much lower in acid content than grapefruit. They're also the perfect size to eat in one sitting.



So, the big question. Apparently these have been around awhile (since at least 2004), but I've never seen them before. Have any of you ever seen or tasted a Jaffa Sweetie?

I'm hoping we can start a campaign to get more stores to carry them next winter!





18 comments:

  1. Interesting! We have something called Sweeties here but they're tiny little clementine oranges. Do these have another name? And this time of year, I'm all about the fresh fruit. YUM

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  2. OK, Wikipedia says they're similar to Oroblancos (patented in CA in 1981 at the University of California citrus experimentation station in Riverside) and also called "pomelit".

    I never knew there were so many different places that imported citrus, and all the names for these hybrids!

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    1. Yes, Mary Jane. The research article kept referring to pomelit juice. I was reading it as Pom-light since they're smaller and sweeter than pomelo so.

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    2. Pom-light! That's funny! I looked at stores about an hour from here (they have online ordering) and nobody has anything like this. I wonder if any place will ship them to us sad, little Oregonians in the middle of nowhere!

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    3. They're pretty much going out of season now, so I guess we'll have to take up the hunt again next winter.

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  3. And here I thought you were just throwing out endearments when I read your title. :-) So basically you're saying that a mommy grapefruit and a daddy pomelo took one look a their darling offspring, exclaimed, "Ah, sweetie!" and the name stuck? Who knew??? Not me. You're an adventurous shopper, Mary/Cate!

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    1. So that made me smile in the middle of a loooooong day. Thanks, Kav.

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  4. We don't have a Costco here. :(

    But if I ever run across these, I'll be sure to get some. They sound delicious!

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    1. Jan, I looked up the online price. Um, I could probably have my own sweetie grove. Maybe that's an idea. ;)

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  5. These are different from the clementines we get. Sadly. These look like a wonderful change from a regular orange.

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    1. Julie, I tried to answer this 3 times so if you get lots of responses, blame it on technology gone amok.

      Yes, much different than a clementine. They definitely taste more like grapefruit only sweeter. But it's a refreshing, juicy sweet, not cloying.

      I want one now!

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  6. Very interesting, Mary Cate. As always. Seems like I saw them somewhere recently, but I can't remember where. Now it's going to bug me. Thanks a lot, Mary Cate. ;)

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    1. Sorry, Mindy. Apparently I live to torment you.

      Have a cupcake from yesterday. ;)

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  7. I have never seen a sweetie. Well not a fruit sweetie. Must check them out at whatever the organic market is here.. no Whole Foods. WAAAHHHH!!

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  8. Sunflower Market. Is that it or is that Denver too? I have to quit moving so much.

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  9. Sprouts. Sprouts. It is Sprouts. Maybe Trader Joe's will have it. We do have that.

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  10. So cool! I'll be sure to look for them. I bet I would love them.

    Virginia, the clementines I buy are called Cuties. :) Maybe you're thinking of those.

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