RIO HONDO: When the hot summer fades and leaves turn red with cooler fall weather, tastebuds across the nation start clamoring for the tart, tangy juiciness of grapefruit--Texas grapefruit, that is.

No one knows this better than
Reed and Violet Lang, who have operated a gift fruit business over the past 22 years in this small Rio Grande Valley town.

"Ours (Texas grapefruit) is the best recognized worldwide," Reed, a former member of the Texas Farm Bureau Board of Directors, says. "We're recognized as having a unique taste and quality of our fruit. People seem to like it. We have people that won't buy Florida once they've had Texas."

The Langs start shipping their Rio Reds, Ruby Reds and Texas naval oranges around mid-November for Thanksgiving delivery. By the time the season ends in mid-March, Reed expects to have shipped from 3,000 to 4,000 boxes of fresh Texas citrus.

If you like pretty, Reed Lang says you'll definitely like the red blush of Rio. But if it's taste you're after, the Ruby Red can't be beat. Lang replanted his 40-acre grapefruit grove following the 1989 freeze half to Rios and half to Rubys.

Reed, who prefers the Ruby, says the Rio has caught on because it looks good. "The only thing I can see for the Rio Red is the color, and it is pretty. The blush will come through that rind and supermarkets love it because you can see it displayed clear across the store," he says. "It catches your eye, and color sells. Let's face it, you don't put bread in a brown bag and sell it."

The old standby, Ruby Red, however, continues to be Lang Farms biggest seller. "As far as I'm concerned, it's still the best grapefruit. It's not as pretty. You cut a Rio Red and you look at your thumb to make sure you didn't cut it, because it's red," he says. "But I'll be darned if I can taste color. And the Ruby Red still tastes better to me than the Rio."

Reed says his customers agree. Rios have been slow to catch on with the gift fruit people. "They order the Rios to try them," Reed says. "The next time they'll say they want the Rubys."

The key to a successful gift fruit business is first, having great fruit, and second, having a great mailing list. The Langs succeed on both counts. Fruit is never shipped until it is ready. Only larger sizes and best quality is used for the gift fruit business. Gift fruit is not blemished,and it has good color. It is washed, dried, waxed and polished. Most important, it has that great Texas taste.

Although the same types of grapefruit are grown in Florida as in Texas, Texas fruit is generally recognized as being the best tasting. Reed says the difference is Texas soil. Florida soil, which he terms as "just all sand with a little bit of top soil on top," causes Sunshine State producers to have to water and fertilize more often.

Texas citrus, however, is grown on land that has been flooded continually over time by the Rio Grande River. "We have all the soil types in the world down here depending on where the flood was upstream that bought the silt down," Reed says. "But over eons of time it's built up this soil. Not all the soil down here is good citrus soil. Where you have sand or deep sand, or light soil, you can raise awful good citrus."

The mailing list is something that builds on itself, especially after a new customer has tasted Texas grapefruit. The Langs' best advertising is the product itself. "The best advertising we've ever done is word of mouth, people that are happy with the product and pass the word along to their neighbors or relatives," Reed says. "And we get a lot of people that call in here and say, 'Joe Blow told me about your fruit and I'd like to try it.' So we mail them a brochure and we've got another customer."

We ship all the way from Seattle, Washington, to way up in Massachusetts," Reed continues. "A lot of people use this as a means to send Christmas gifts. And they want to give Uncle Joe just a birthday present or whatever during the season, they'll call us and we'll ship them fruit." For more information on Reed Lang Farms, write P.O. Box 219, Rio Hondo, TX 78583 or phone 956/748-2354.

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