Anyone order Florida Honeybells this year?

Question

The navel oranges we’ve been getting the past two years have been absolute crap. No flavor to them whatsoever. Two years ago they were amazing, large bombs full of meaty, juicy flesh. I’m about to drop some cash on a couple of trays and want to know if they are up to snuff

Answer

For the first time, I bought some honeybells through Harry and David. I had never had one until last year when someone brought them to work and they were da bomb! I'll update you when mine arrive.

Answer

I live in south Florida and will never buy any Florida citrus products. This is due to the failed citrus canker eradication program. It only failed because of the four hurricanes in 2004. Otherwise no citrus would be allowed to plant/grow below lake Okeechobee.

Answer

We have been eating excellent mandarin oranges (kind that come with little stem and leaves). Best citrus all winter.

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true Honeybelle were grafted/bred in the Indian River, FL area many many years ago.
they have a relatively short season, and they do not ship well.

as a result of the limited mass marketing ability (pick green, ship like rocks, gas to turn color....) they are not widely available; the growing acreage remains small, production remains small / limited.

similar strains have been introduced elsewhere (example: western honeybelle) but as most experienced eaters note, "really ain't the same"

the last issue is of course.....honeybelles are not produced in a factory by the lowest Chinese bidder. every season is different and both quality and quantity will vary year to year.

Answer

Here in Toronto, I was thinking just the other day how delicious the citrus is this year. Perhaps because we don't have a local crop, we import citrus fruits from all over the world. I've been eating navel oranges from California and South Africa, cara cara oranges from California, mandarins (including clementines) from California, Spain, and Morocco, and grapefruit from California and Israel. All have been wonderful. Sorry to say, but even when I'm vacationing in Florida, I only buy non-local oranges. Pity.

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Today we got a shipment of honeybells from Gregory's Groves in FL. My parents, who live in FL, feel compelled to send them to us, but they could be anywhere and send them to us since obviously my mom is just ordering them from the website :)

My kids both wanted to take them with their lunches tomorrow, so I had a little taste of one and it was pretty tasty and very juicy. Some years are better than others, but the small taste I had so far was good. One year, the box had several of the honeybells that were in bad shape. I sent back the comment card and about a week later, a whole new box showed up.

Answer

Yes, I ordered 6 trays from Hale Groves. The first three trays arrived January 23rd. We were very disappointed in the quality of the fruit. They all had seeds were tough and had white areas that could not be eaten. They were juicy but not sweet as you would expect. 

We received our next three trays a few days ago, they are better but here is what I noticed. The oranges that did not have a prominent "bell tip" were like the first batch. The skin was hard to peel off and left quite a bit of white skin on the peeled orange. Most of the oranges so far are much sweeter and are more like what you would expect for the price we paid. I hope next year is a better crop.

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I'd like to order honeybells this year. Any new info on which company to place my order?

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Honey bells are over but temples are available now and very good. 
The source we’ve used with good results (the Honeybells were so good this year!):

https://www.countrysidecitrus.com/

Answer

I don't know about Honeybells but SUMO oranges (originally from Japan) are about the best I've ever tasted although they are very very expensive ($3.49 per orange (!!) at Winn Dixie today.

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Anyone order Florida Honeybells this year?

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