We were very fortunate to receive a gift for a month's worth of "hand-selected premium fruit" from Harry & David from one of my wife's friends. It is a wonderful gift especially this time of the year when you can use a perfectly ripe orange or ruby red grapefruit to get you through the cold winter days.
I tell my youngest daughter when giving her a section of Clementine that she is putting a little sunshine in her mouth with each bite.
This week the postman showed up at the door with a box of extremely juicy HoneyBell oranges that came with their own plastic bibs that took me a while to figure out what they were. After browsing the Internet for a while to learn more about what some people say is the sweetest orange around, I also learned that they are not really in the orange family botanically, but are really tangelos.
In fact, when I went to the supermarket and asked the grocer if they had any Honeybell oranges, he sent me over to the Minneola Tangelo short for Minnesota Tangelo which is a cross between a Duncan grapefruit and a Dancy tangerine.
I'm guessing they get their name from their shape but to me they look like Christmas ornaments you hang on the tree. I found out from the literature sent with the Honeybells that those that "grow close to the trunk have a thicker skin and almost always have the characteristic "bell" on top.
Those that grow toward the outside end of the limb have thinner skins and often don't have the "bell."
The box of Bells also came with a card with a couple of recipes including this one for HoneyBell Juice Cocktail that my wife decided to make. I have always been interested in photography but not very good at it so I am making an effort to take better photos of what I cook.
My kids tease me about bringing my camera to the table each night playing with the light and composition but it's the only way I'm going to get better. I even reached out to some food photographers for some help and will share what I learn from them.
If you have any tips you would like to share, my ears are open. So if you see a lot more photos on my posts, you know what I'm trying to learn and share with you.
📖 Recipe
Honeybell Orange Juice Cocktail
Ingredients
- 4 Honeybell oranges peeled but leave the yellow pith
- 1 apple
- 1 carrot
- ½ mango peeled and pitted
- 2 slices fresh pineapple about ½ inch thick with the skin removed, we used already cut up chunks of pineapple available at the supermarket
Instructions
- Prep all the ingredients coring the apple and cutting them into quarters. Peel and pit the mango. Get your pineapple ready depending on what you are using. Remove the tops from the carrots but leave the skin on.
- To make the juice, just add everything to a juice machine (juicer). As you can see from the photo, my wife used a juice extractor and a juicer both of which pre-date our marriage.
Notes
Yesterday we juiced up some other fruit including strawberries and bananas and the drink was equally delicious. I'm guessing if you have quality fresh fruit around, it is hard to mess up a fruit juice drink. I'm hoping to keep the juicer and extractor a little busier now that we've enjoyed the nutritious and delicious concoctions they create.
If you have a favorite juice combination, please be sure to share it with me.
carla
I absolutely adore honeybell tangelos! And I live in Florida, doubly good. They are the best citrus fruit ever.
Alright Carla, good to hear from the Sunshine State. - RG
jamie
i love honeybelles! i would never mix anything else with their wonderful juice though.
Hi Jamie, you have a point but this concoction was delicious. - RG