Monday, June 19, 2006

Grapefruit Facts



That's a Pomelo on that poor kitties head!













And that's an orange. Put them together and we have- GRAPEFRUIT!





Grapefruit developed as a
hybrid of the pomelo and the sweet orange

It is believed that grapefruit originated in the West Indies.

There are two main western varieties (Ruby Red and Marsh White) and two recently developed varieties (Star Ruby and Rio). All are sweet, juicy and seedless. (source)

Packed with vitamin C- half is all you need for an whole days worth.

Practically all grapefruit in the United States is grown in Florida, California
, Arizona, and Texas.

The grapefruit is named so because the fruit grows in bunches as grapes do. (
source)

I saw this in a lot of places and it surprised me:

Grapefruit has interactions with prescription medications
May interact with medications for anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol.





I used to really dislike the taste of grapefruit (too bitter/sour) but my grandma showed me how to eat it and I love it now.


I just peal it like an orange then I tear it in half. Now here's the tricky part- take off the SKIN of the fruit. It's usually the skin and the white bitter rind that taste bad. I don't even put sugar on my grapefruit- with out the skin or white rind, it's VERY sweet.

I never eat grapefruit cut in half, or packaged grapefruit either (it's too bitter).


I'll try and take some pictures of a peeled and NAKED grapefruit for you this week so you can get an idea about what I mean. (a recipe too of course!)

okay I'm off to the park.

be back soon!

Teddy

Update

Thank you to Jennhx for a great questions about grapefruits (you can see it in the comments). Here's a link that has the entire history of the fruit.

17 comments:

t. said...

The Pomelo kittie stole a great deal of smiles out of me (even if my mom always reminded me they do not really understand humour: pet animals do not laugh! This tought somewhat steals some of the smiles that would naturally arise).

Great post about grapefruits! I recently discovered red grapefruits are the result of a genetically induced mutation done with X-rays and a pretty recent on as well (1970s). Grapefuits with pink/red flesh and skin are not found in nature: they are men produced apparently! It was interesting for me to discover.

Anonymous said...

Did humans "hybridize" grapefruit, or was it done by nature... I checked your source and it isn't clear.

Kuntal Joisher said...

thanks for the info.. I avoid grapefruit just because of the bitter taste.. now I will try again with the new technique :-)

funwithyourfood said...

Hi T
I just worked on a quinoa recipe. Hopefully i'm not too late to join the contest!

Jennhx- good question i found this link (http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch63.html)
and it says that in the fruit is about 300 years old and that there is no record of intentionally making it.
Thanks for asking! I like this site better than the few that I found earlier.

mc seitan.
i'm still not over your picture. It's too much haha.. I hope you like grapefruit now!

Teddy

t. said...

You are definitely still in time for the quinoa recipe! No rush at all :)

I found it pretty hard to find decent grapefruit links: thank a lot for the hard work you did on the topic! I discovered some new things.

(and I am still similing t the kittie+pomelo photo)

primaryconsumer said...

Haha, that picture is sooo cute. :)

I left a link for frisee on the comments section of my blog, in case you want to check it out.

Also, I saw on the Jess(of get sconed) blog that you are going to be visiting relatives in upstate NY, where I live. If you don't mind me asking, where are you going?

Tanya Kristine said...

mmm...that does look succulent and lovely.

maaaaaaaaaaaaybe i 'll give it another shot. it's a good alkaline fruit too. i need to start eating more alkaline becuas ei'm gettnig friggin reflux.

what a draaag it is getting ooold

Anonymous said...

LOL, that poor kitty! ;) I could not imagine any of my cats sitting still for that.

Thanks for the grapefruit post. I haven't tried grapefruit in years. My sister used to eat it with sugar on it (or something) but I remember tasting it and not liking it. I've been thinking I ought to try it again one of these days.

pinknest said...

show me your grapefruit!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

that is so interesting ~ i didn't know that about grapefruit. recently, i made green tea & grapefruit kanten and had a tough time peeling it, so please show your trick! :)

Shananigans said...

I love how educational your blog can be, I love learning stuff about food :) Like all produce, some grapefruits are better than others. I always eat mine cut in half, but I’m usually pretty good about scooping out only the pulp and not the skin dividers, hence avoiding the bitterness. I love going to the farmer’s market in summer and trying all the different citrus hybrid samples. I frequently come across fruits I didn’t even know existed. I got some good tangelos last week, the wrinkly skin makes them easy to peel, bonus!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the update (and link)! I love grapefruit, and usually eat it with a spoon. At a friend's house, I used a grapefruit spoon (see here for a photo) which can be helpful. With practice, you can use a regular spoon and avoid any of the white skin. But I'd love to see how you manage to peel it (I hate even peeling oranges, so maybe I'm a peel-wimp...)

MeloMeals said...

I saw on a cooking show recently a gelled dessert (we could make it with agar agar) made with fresh ruby red grapfruit juice, triple sec, and sparkling wine.. topped with mint. I'll bet it would be outstanding with ginger beer, orange zest and topped with mint. I'm going to try it I think. Thanks for reminding me of grapefruits!

KleoPatra said...

Love that! Who knew all that great info, Teddy? THANKS!!

Fun pic of the cat in the pomelo hat...

I'm a fan of grapefruit, I used to have a neighbor w/a tree and sometimes I would grab 'em when they fell to the ground... this got my mouth watering for some!

Anonymous said...

mmmm...nothin' better than grapefruit. I didn't realize it grew in clusters...cool!

Ruth Daniels said...

The kittie is toooo hysterical. And I thought we were creative as kids dressing our dog up in my brother's pj's with her tail sticking out of the fly.

Thanks for the laugh - and the lesson

tofufreak said...

the kitty is soo cute! when i was younger (and my head was smaller) my cousins and sibling would take turns wearing them as hats and taking pictures!