About Jersey Shore Citrus

Welcome to JerseyShoreCitrus.com. We hope you enjoy our site and decide to order some healthy and delicious Florida citrus fruit from us. Perhaps you are interested in why a Florida citrus grower and gift fruit shipper has such a name as Jersey Shore Citrus. If so, read on.

 

How We Got Our Name

Rather than name our citrus company after the geographic area in Florida where our grove is we chose to name it after the prime market we serve—the Jersey Shore. The people of New Jersey are passionate about the Jersey Shore and we hope that naming our company after it will allow people at the Shore and throughout New Jersey to find us and identify with our healthy and delicious oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines from Florida. Even if you don’t live at the Shore or in New Jersey we still want to introduce you to our citrus company. For over 30 years, whenever people try our fresh Florida citrus they always exclaim that it is the best and tastiest they have ever had in their life! We want to give you and your family this opportunity.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide our customers the most carefully grown, selected, handled, and packed tree ripe citrus from Florida. Our goal is for our customers to say that our fruit is the best they ever tasted in their life and make it a regular part of their diet and healthy lifestyle.

 

Your Family’s Health and Citrus

Nutrition experts agree that eating fresh grapefruit is the healthiest breakfast you can have and drinking a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice every morning is the most efficient and economical way to supply essential vitamins, minerals, and energy that your body needs to jump start your day. Teaching your children to make eating citrus and drinking fresh squeezed citrus juice a daily habit is to leave them a valuable legacy that will yield a return for their whole life.

To paraphrase the Florida citrus industry’s most famous slogan, “A day without Florida citrus is like a day without sunshine.” This slogan has a lot to do with why most of us believe that we must have a glass of orange juice each morning with our breakfast. But what you may not know is that if the juice is fresh squeezed from carefully selected fruit and delivered in the shortest time possible from grove to you it is even healthier.

Our History

We were raised in Monmouth County in the 1950s and the 1960s when the County was mostly rural and not sprawling sub-divisions. In all directions farm after farm spread out lining the roads almost until you got to the shore. All along the way were family farm stands selling beautiful and delicious hand picked fruit and vegetables at the peak of perfection. A few are still left. We wish it can still be that way, but alas. L

 

Back in Farming Again

We left Monmouth County in the 1970s to go to college in Florida and would wind up settling in Levy County, a rural county with rolling hills and farms much like the countryside on the Jersey Shore. We bought a small farm and raised fruit and vegetables and sold them at the farmers market; however, our involvement in Florida agriculture made it inevitable that we would also become involved in the Citrus industry.

 

The Start of Our Citrus Business

Our farm in Florida was organic and this led us in 1974 to meet Lee McComb, an organic citrus grower in Lake County, Florida. We were purchasing organic fertilizer from Lee for our farm and he asked us if we would like to purchase a bag of oranges. We took the bag home and we juiced them up with an old orange juice squeezer that Mom had given us when we went off to college. The juice was the best we ever had! We shared it with our friends and all agreed that the fresh squeezed juice was the best any of us had ever had.

 

Before you know it the bag Lee McComb had given us was empty so we went back to see Lee to get more oranges. We had only gone to get another bag or two, but he was a great salesman and when we left we had ten wooden field crates of oranges and grapefruit-900 pounds of citrus! We were now officially in the citrus business.

 

The Devastating Freezes and a Brief Change in Professions

One thing led to another and our citrus business grew and grew because everyone enjoyed the delicious oranges and grapefruit we were selling that could not be purchased in the grocery store. But times began to change in the early 1980s. A series of devastating freezes destroyed Lee’s groves and our supply of fruit. By now, the only business we knew was citrus and for a brief spell we had to change professions to survive. We went into nursing and accounting, two stable professions, not dependent on the weather.

 

Our Return to Citrus

We scrimped and saved and finally bought Coyote grove on the ridge in Lake Wales, Florida. After a long journey we were back where we belonged. The ridge is the geographic backbone of Florida and it runs down the middle of the state. Rain water on the east side of the ridge eventually makes its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Rain water on the west side of the ridge winds up in the Gulf of Mexico. The ridge offers the best views in Florida and from it one can see for miles, often stunning vistas of row after row of bright dark green citrus groves as far as the eye can see.

 

The Central Florida ridge is recognized as the best place in the world to grow citrus. Experts agree that the combination of sand hills, unique geography, and latitude of make citrus fruit grown on the ridge juicier, sweeter, and with more consistent high quality than any other citrus growing region in the world.  This is because during the winter it is cool enough so that the trees become dormant. When the weather warms in late March and early April all of the groves bloom at the same time. During this time of year the whole ridge region smells like orange blossom perfume. Since all of the trees bloom at the same time each variety ripens at the same time, which ensures consistent quality.

 

While fruit from other areas of the world may have less cosmetic blemishes, there is no citrus in the world that matches fruit grown on the Florida ridge for taste! Lake Wales is far enough south so that a devastating fruit destroying and tree killing freeze, while not impossible, is very unlikely.

 

How We Select Your Fruit

It’s been more than 30 years that we have been in citrus and have met many other citrus growers who are lifelong friends. We spend long hours driving the endless rows of oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines in our grove and our friend’s groves searching for the best trees with the best fruit. As we drive through the groves we inspect every tree for health and to select which trees we will pick fruit from to send to our gift fruit customers. From the trees that appear to have the best fruit we sample the fruit to determine if it meets our high quality standards for ripeness and taste. Once a tree passes the taste test and is selected for picking we pick only the best looking fruit based on color and shape. All fruit is hand picked and gently placed in pick sacks and harvesting bins to ensure it does not get bruised. From the grove it is carefully transported to a packing shed.

 

Packing your Fruit

At the packing shed the fruit is inspected again, washed in a mild detergent and carefully placed in cartons especially designed to ship citrus so that its not bruised on its thousand mile journey from the Lake Wales to your home or place of business.

 

Shipping Your fruit

After packing the fruit it is shipped to your door via UPS. From tree to your door the whole process, takes approximately four days. Unless you go to the grove in Florida and pick the fruit yourself you can’t get fresher citrus anywhere!

 

What Sets Us Apart From Other Gift Fruit Shippers

What makes us different from other gift fruit shippers is that we are fanatics on the selection, handling, and packing of our fruit. When you order from us you are not only getting select citrus, you are getting super select citrus that is grown, picked, handled, and packed in the most careful manner to ensure the best tasting fruit you have ever had with a maximum shelf life.

 

So What Are You Waiting For? Place Your Order Now!

We hope we have answered many of your questions about Jersey Shore Citrus and are convinced that if you order from us you will be providing your family and friends with the healthiest, most delicious, tastiest citrus you can buy anywhere! Of course if you have any questions about Jersey Shore Citrus, our citrus fruit, or ordering from us, then please email us at the address below. So What Are You Waiting For? Place Your Order Now!

 

Hope to see you down the Shore this summer.

 

Janet Clark, RN                                

President and Founder

Jersey Shore Citrus

Licensed Citrus Fruit dealer

janet@JerseyShoreCitrus.com

Shipping Advisory:
Please allow 7-10 days for delivery. Sorry no shipments outside the continental U.S.A or to California, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana. Shipping included in all prices.