All Floridians love grapefruit, or should. Thus a little history on the fruit in the Sunshine State:

Grapefruit didn't originate in Asia, as was the case with all other citrus strains, but apparently in Polynesia, where Captain Cook, the famed early English explorer, found them and brought them to the West Indies. However, shaddocks, which are closely related and by many pomologists [expert on growing fruits] are considered the original for the grapefruit, seem to have reached Spain in the 12th Century, long before Cook or Ponce de Leon. In any case, they were introduced to Florida in 1806 by the chief surgeon in Napoleon's navy, Count Odet Philippe, who had taken it on the lam from his native France. He started the state's first grapefruit grove near Tampa Bay in 1823, but the fruit did not win commercial acceptance until the 1880s and were long considered the rich man's dish. In early canning processes, there was more success with grapefruit than with oranges, and their popularity has grown to the point where current grapefruit crops are nearly one-fifth those of oranges, despite the competition of frozen concentrated orange juice.

(excerpted from Florida Citrus Showcase: History of Citrus)