A Grapefruit question:

forbiddenfruit1750barbados

Does anyone out there have an earlier reference to grapefruit?

From The Natural History of Barbados, By the Reverend Mr. Griffith Hughes, A.M., Rector of St. Lucy’s Parish, Published 1750.

For those who have trouble with the out of fashion ‘long s,’ it reads:

The Trunk, Leaves and Flowers of this Tree, very much resemble those of the Orange-tree. The Fruit, when ripe, is something longer and larger than the largest Orange; and exceeds, in the Delicacy of its Taste, the Fruit of every Tree in this or any of our neighbouring Islands. It hath somewhat the Taste of a  Shaddock; but far exceeds that, as well as the best Orange, in its delicious Taste and Flavour. This is delineated in Plate VII.

“Shaddock” was the contemporary term for a Pomello.