Marie's miracle grapefruit

It’s a very good year for grapefruit in Craven County, yes, Craven County.

Ordinarily the product of subtropical states such as Florida, Texas, Arizona and other points south, the grapefruit is still somewhat rare in North Carolina.

An experiment Marie Bryan undertook a dozen years ago has born fruit.

"I saved some seed out of a grapefruit and they sprouted and grew little trees so I planted them back here in the orchard, and it took them 12 years before they had the first fruit on them," Bryan said.

Bryan said she thinks she got those first seeds out of a grapefruit bought from Food Lion.

"First, I had them in a little pot on the porch and they got maybe six inches tall and then I put them out here," Bryan said, pointing to the orchard where she already has plums, apples, pears and grapes.

"I had read some articles on it and it said it would take nine or 10 years if you planted it from seed.

"The first year I only had three on this one tree and the next year I didn’t have any on this tree and I had two on the other tree. And then last year I picked over 250 grapefruit from the two trees and they were all on the one side."

The branches of the two trees droop from the weight of the softball sized fruit in clusters from top to bottom.

"This year I know I’ve got a lot," she said. "I’ve been giving it away to my friends and neighbors and shipped some in the mail to my family."

She put up a bunch in pint and quart jars.

"I canned quite a bit," Bryan said. "I peeled it and pull the sections out, pulled the skin off of them and put it in jars and put it in the pressure pot just enough to seal and put no sugar in it."

And, they taste good, too.

"I eat right many of them," she said. "They are as big as some of them in the stores. The first bite is a little bitter, but after that, they’re delicious."

Her neighbors like them too, the ones that can eat them, she said.

The fruit is a brilliant ruby red inside.

"They are supposed to be much better for you than the white ones, so I’m told," Bryan said. "For pink grapefruit, they have very few seeds in them."

Anne Edwards, N.C. Cooperative Extension director in Carteret County on Harkers Island, said the fruit is rare in this area.

"She is the only grapefruit I know of in all the surrounding counties," she said. "She was lucky that her seed not only germinated and grew but also had the genetics to be more cold hearty than the parents.

"... It’s not something that’s typically considered adapted to our region. Obviously we are much colder than the traditional citrus areas."

Edwards said anyone trying to grow the trees must get one that can withstand the cold.

"You have to go into it with the expectation that there will be a year that will be so cold that it knocks it back to the roots or kills it all together," she said.

Tom Glasgow, N.C. Cooperative Extension agent in Craven County, said growing citrus is not unheard of but indeed rare.

"There are lots of opportunities for people with citrus in our area as long as they get them in a protective area and if they chose carefully what they are planting," he said. "You always have the oddball thing happening where you have a plant survive when you would not think it would."

For Bryan, it was only just an experiment, like the orange trees and lemon trees also growing near her grapefruits.

"I don’t know if I’ll live to see fruit on them," the 84-year-old said. "I just like to see things grow."