Texas, the Orchard State?

Grapefruit, oranges, peaches, plums, and apples. People don’t exactly think of Texas as an orchard state, but we are!

Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit

Cases of the sweet, colorful Texas Ruby Red grapefruit from the Rio Grande Valley (which we just call “the Valley”) are shipped all over the U.S. at this time of year for business and personal gifts. They have been a traditional Christmas gift for decades.

Pronunciation Note: Despite its being spelled “Rio Grande” so it should be pronounced REE-oh GRAN-day, we pronounce it REE-oh GRAND. Just to be different, I guess.

Texas Oranges

People tried growing oranges in Texas, but for some reason that never caught on much, though we do have some orange groves in the Valley, and they sell TexSun orange juice. But we still have towns with names like Satsuma and Fresno, as far north as East Texas, to show that they tried.

Fredericksburg Peaches

Way up in the Texas Hill country of Central Texas they grow a lot of peaches. The peaches from around Fredericksburg are especially prized. Homemade peach ice cream is a very big deal in peach season up around there. And all over Texas, we love our peach pie and peach cobbler.

Caldwell Plums

In East Central Texas, up around Caldwell especially, the Czech farmers grow a lot of beautiful plums. They make tart plum jam, and they put that in wonderful Czech breakfast pastries called kolaches (koh-LAH-cheez). I’ll tell you about kolaches another time. Yum!