Name: Minneola tangelo, widely sold under the trade name Honeybell — a specific tangelo cultivar, itself a cross between Duncan grapefruit and Dancy tangerine, described more generally on the tangelo page.
Description
The Minneola was released in 1931 by the USDA Horticultural Research Station in Orlando, Florida, and named after the nearby town of Minneola. It is best known for the distinctive raised “neck” at its stem end, giving the fruit a bell-like shape and its Honeybell trade name in the gift-fruit market, where it is often sold as a seasonal specialty item shipped directly from Florida growers.
Minneolas have a bright reddish-orange, glossy rind and a notably juicy, tangy-sweet flesh, making them one of the more distinctive-tasting tangelo varieties.
Main nutrition value
Per 100g, USDA-derived tangerine/mandarin data (the closest documented match for this tangelo variety) lists approximately 53 kcal, 13.3g carbohydrate, 10.6g naturally occurring sugars, 1.8g dietary fibre, 0.8g protein and 0.3g fat. Like other tangelos, Minneolas are a good source of vitamin C and beta-cryptoxanthin, a provitamin-A carotenoid, alongside a useful amount of potassium.
How best to be consumed
The stem-end “neck” makes the Minneola easy to grip while peeling by hand.
- Hold the fruit by its neck while peeling, using it as a natural handle.
- Eat fresh as a juicy, tangy-sweet snack — Minneolas are especially well suited to this given their high juice content.
- Press for fresh juice when in season, since availability is short (mostly winter months).
- Add segments to salads for a sweet-tart citrus note.
- Favour the whole fruit over juice most of the time, to keep the fibre intact.
Overconsumption could cause…
As a tangelo with grapefruit parentage, a couple of considerations apply beyond the usual citrus caution.
- Medication interaction: Minneolas can contain some of the same furanocoumarin compounds as grapefruit — check with a pharmacist or doctor if you take a medication with a grapefruit warning.
- Higher sugar intake from juice, given how juicy this variety is.
- Tooth enamel exposure with very frequent intake, given the fruit's natural acidity.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central — Tangerine, raw (100g portion): https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/2709175/nutrients (no separate USDA entry exists for the Minneola cultivar specifically; the general tangerine/mandarin-orange (tangelo) figures below are the closest documented match, since Minneola is itself a tangelo variety) Wikipedia — Tangelo, used for the Minneola's specific breeding history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangelo
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