The breaking of seasonality and the commoditization of the exotic was under way, and the once-local trade in fruits and vegetables was becoming national and even international in reach. California and Florida were becoming the great garden for all of America, their produce distributed via the newly completed national rail network on newly perfected refrigerator cars. The exhibit halls of the Agriculture building celebrated this bounty: The California delegation displayed “pyramids of oranges, stacks of lemons, and tables laden with apples.” They also introduced the kumquat, a small fruit that fairgoers found easy to slip from the trees and sneak into their pockets as a souvenir.
The Florida exhibit had a novel item, too: a hybridized version of the pomelo that had been introduced to American markets just a few years before. It still sold for the luxury price of five dollars a box (around $100 in today’s dollars), but that would drop rapidly over the next two decades as it became a commodity known as the grapefruit. New multinational trading firms were bringing in other fruits from the Caribbean and Central and South America, too, like bananas, which were featured in both the Cuban and the Brazilian exhibits. By the year of the fair, Americans were importing 16 million bunches annually, and these once-rare and expensive treats were well on their way to becoming an everyday staple.
