About Us
A Family Tradition Since 1913
In the heart of Indian River County, known as the home of the "World’s Finest Citrus", sits a piece of land that was owned and tended by the Peterson family since 1913! Purchased in 2013 by Eric and Tiffany Barkwell, another local citrus family, the tradition of the finest in citrus will continue for generations to come. This historic citrus packing house is one of the oldest in the county. Featuring a beautiful gift shop full of gourmet dressings, dips, sauces, local honey, farm fresh eggs and produce, souvenirs, sweet delicious Florida taffy, Alligator Jerky and so much more, it is a destination not to be missed!
A visit to Peterson Groves is a step back in time. The children will enjoy visiting our farm animals and participating in our "Squirrel Treasure Hunt" amongst the trees and animals to receive their prize at the end. Inside, everyone enjoys a sample of the seasonal fresh fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice.
We ship only the best, prize winning Indian River citrus grown right here in our own groves. All of our gifts are personally hand selected and packed by our family to create the perfect gift for yours and shipped directly to their door. We begin our gift fruit shipping season in November with our seedless Navel Oranges, seedless Ruby Red Grapefruit, Fall Glo Tangerines and Florida Tangelos just in time for Thanksgiving.
In December we begin harvesting the always popular seedless Red Navel Oranges in time for Christmas and Chanukah gift baskets. Many folks like to customize their fruit shipments to include our tropical marmalades, jellies, coconut patties and citrus candies to make their gifts a little extra special.
In January the super juicy Honeybells, (also know as the Minneola Tangelo), is the favorite for many, so juicy in fact that we include a bib in every shipment! This bell shaped gem can also be ordered as a holiday gift and we will send your lucky recipients a gift card announcing that their gift has been ordered and will be arriving in January.
The Florida citrus season offers up many delicious varieties from November through May and sometimes into June for the locals who don't mind the ugly fruit. For grapefruit lovers there are White Marsh Grapefruit, Pink Grapefruit, Ruby Red Grapefruit and the deep red Crimson Grapefruit, all of which are seedless. For the Tangerine lovers, we begin with the Fall Glo Tangerine in November, the Sunburst in December and January and the most popular of all, the Honey Murcott Tangerine that takes us from February through March. February also brings us the Temple orange, the favorite of the old time citrus growers, it has a unique sweet and tangy taste that can't be beat.
Finally, in March, we have the Ortanique whose claim to fame is low acid, a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine, very sweet and easy to peel. The Valencia Orange is the final orange of the season good for eating and a fantastic juice orange. We can continue to harvest the Valencias and Ruby Red Grapefruit well into the summer for squeezing our fresh juice.
To enjoy all the flavors of the citrus growing season our "Fruit of the Month Club" is a great way to save money and keep the sunshine coming! Please give us a call to answer all of your questions or to help you pick the perfect gift, customize a gift or club to suit your needs.
Your complete satisfaction is our guarantee! We stand behind every order. If you are not fully satisfied with your shipment, we'll make it right - whatever it takes! We look forward to making you and your family a part of our family tradition of the finest in citrus for over 100 years!