In 1924, a good friend of fruit grower Sharp wrote to him that he had discovered an odd type of fruit in the wild at his farm in Browns Town, Jamaica. It was wrinkly and ugly, but very sweet and full of juice.
Sharp sent his teenage sons to have a look. They, too, were very enthusiastic about the taste and took a graft from the tree back with them to Trout Hall. After ten years of crossbreeding and selection, a fruit variety was developed that had next to no seeds and was suitable for production.
A few boxes of this ugly wrinkly fruit were initially sent together with oranges and grapefruit to an importer in Montreal. Leys Brown received the shipment and was immediately enthusiastic. The very next day, he sent a telegram to Sharp with the text: “Please send a new shipment of oranges and grapefruit and as much of that ugly fruit as possible” The name UGLI® was registered that same year. Since 1967, the fruit has been shipped to the Rotterdam importer Velleman & Tas, today’s Total Produce B.V.