Grapefruit Help

I too hate grapefruit. However I have found one dish that it excels in. Fruit Soup.  Using grapefruit, orange and pineapple juice in equal parts, you make a base of juice that you then simmer fresh cut pieces of the above fruits into. I also add some lemon slices. when the pieces start floating it's done. don't bring to a boil.

this is a great winter dish or even a cold spring morning. Ladle into small cups and sip gently, it opens the sinuses and soothes the throat.

    I love grapefruit but can understand how alot of people get turned off by the taste.  When you eat your grapefruit is it always alone?  or have you tried it in different recipies?  It may not be as overpowering if you mix it in with salad greens, fruit salad, with seafood, in a jicama salad on and on...

   It doesn't have to be in the forefront...you can use it to just offset other flavors.  But again...you still may not like it.

   good luck,

 dan 

I love grapefruit, but if you don't like it you don't like it.  But better than sugar is sugar syrup.  I make a citrus fruit salad, with pineapple, oranges and grapefruits, cutting the peel off with a sharp knife and cutting them roughly in chunks.  I boil sugar and water (no measures just by eye, maybe a half cup sugar and cup water?  I put the water and then pour in the sugar to make a little mound in the center like an island in the water) and boil it for a few minutes, till it;s all dissolved and then some more. 
Pour it boiling hot on the cut fruit - it makes the juices run, and being heated by the syrup seems to soften the flavor a little. 

You might also try the traditional sicilian salad done with finely sliced fennel, sliced oranges and black olives, oil and salt and pepper except substitute grapefruit. 

I imagine also cooked in some dishes it might be more appealing. 
\But if you can't give it away, put the fruit in a box on the street with a sign "take me, i'm free" or put them on "freecycle" the website for giving stuff away.  Someone is bound to come and get them. 

One of my favorite salads is just some greens with avocado, glazed walnuts, some diced green onion, grapefruit, with a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil.  But the quality of the salad definitely depends on the fruit.  

Do you know what grapefruit variety you have?

Yea, the avocado salad is the only way i've made(and only way I like it) grapefruit, I live in florida too, and also have lots of them available.

I love grapefruit. I find it goes wonderfully with crab, or shrimp. I use them for simple salads:

Grapefruit segments + shrimp or crab meat + avocado.

Or for a fancier Thai style salad: 

Grapefruit segments + shrimp + crab + avocado + fresh cilantro (lots) + fresh mint (lots) + minced scallions + minced fresh red chilis + fried shallot slices + crushed peanuts + thai dressing (fish sauce, palm sugar, lime juice).

 One trick to removing bitterness is to remove the pith which is the white stuff surrounding the segments.  that is what imparts the bitterness. 

When last my aunt & uncle went to Mexico, they raved about vendors selling halved grapefruits sprinkled with cayenne.  They said it was immensely refreshing, and that the hot balanced out the sour so that neither were overpowering.  It might be worth a try.

All citrus have a hint of sourness, along with varying degrees of sweetness and many with hints of bitterness.

But grapefruit has something no other citrus (except pomelo) has: quinine.

And there's no hiding that quininey essence.  Sugar counters sour and taking away the cushiony pith gets rid of much of the bitterness.  But the quinine will always be there.

So, what does a good chef do with quinine?

The same thing one would do with tonic water -- wine spritzers, punches, mixed with watermelon and cucumber, a gazillion cocktails, sparkling margaritas, sangria, biscuits, ... what else?

I don't eat grapefruit.  I don't like the quinine.

If you have plenty of other citrus trees that you like, why not yank out the grapefruit tree -- yes, you have my permission to actually REMOVE a mature tree -- and replace it with a gazillion other wonderfully exotic tropicals that do so well in Florida.

Joe

What about adding grapefruit pieces to a sangria with other citrus?

If you do take out your tree, look into getting kumquat trees, I have one in my yard. They are REALLY sour, but there's so much to do with them.

Peel off the zest. and scrape off any pith. Dry the zest (on  a plate top of the fridge is good) Grind  the dried zest and mix with various spices to brighten and contrast flavors in interesting ways. With cinnamon maybe or cumin or coriander or ground dried chiles for example.

Use the remaining fruit for juice or eating.

Here in California we have Oro Blanco grapefruits they're really sweet and delious with very low acidity. Try making grapefruit curd or candied grapefruit peel. You can take the juice ,meat drippings and "spices" reduce it down for a sauce. If all else fails try selling them at you local farmers market or donate to a local school or homeless shelter.

One thought is to sell or give them away as compost starter.  Every compost heap that I have ever started began with juiced citrus (usually oranges) that were from a commercial juicer in the area.  Not only did it promote rapid decomposition of bulk materials but also the compost pile smelled like oranges right until it was fully composted which is nice when turning the piles. 

  Grapefruit would work excellent for this.  Just make sure that the fruit is either broken up by either you or the recipient. I also need to point out that un-juiced citrus has alot of liquid so be careful not to add too much moisture to the compost heap or it will putrify and become a slime heap.  I find that if you just step on them and leave them for a day or two, a fair amount of juice will run out.

Most discussions of compost i've seen say to strictly avoid citrus.

  It was my biology professor in college who actually gave me the idea to use citrus.  She mentioned that most citrus such as oranges and grapefruit were fine where as lemons and limes were not.  I have never had a problem with citrus other than too much juice will do two things.  One, the juice is acidic to which it can inhibit beneficial bacterial and fungal growth and the oils in the rind have anti microbial factor in it.  so it is better to let the fruit dry out a bit for that reason alone.  Again as I previously posted too much moisture will begin a rot in the compost so that is the other reason to be careful.

  I have used the juiced oranges from a local juicer so the rinds and pulp is predominantly all that is left.  All the compost heaps that I have started have been started this way and I have gone from raw materials to full compost in about four months.  Like I said the only thing that gives away what I started the heap with is the smell of oranges every time I turn the heap.  When the smell is gone, I know that the compost is fully matured.  I get plenty of worms and it has worked wonderfully for many people's and my own garden.  One thing is I fortify my compost heaps with bone and blood meal so that might have an effect with the citric acid.

Give them to a local charity if you can't find a way that you like them. My father would eat them halved for breakfast with some sugar on top with a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea - we had one of those curved grapefruit knives to loosen them from the pith.  He had them all to himself - out of 9 of us, only he liked them.

I've seen them done segmented and plated with mandarine oranges with balsamic and olive oil, S&P

For me - I can't stand the quinine taste either - tonic water has the same taste, so if I drink a gin, I mix it with ginger ale/dry ginger (whatever its called in your neck of the woods).  I call the mix GG

I like to cut them in half, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for about 20 min.  This brings out more sweetness and the fruit can be flaked out with a fork for use as a cool garnish.

That sounds very interesting.  I am definitely going to try it.  It's especially nice that you've not added extra sweetener.  Thanks for posting the suggestion.

Hmmm ... adding some spices, such as those mentioned by Charron or phatch, might be a nice addition to the soup.

Glad you found a solution......I forgot to mention that with the fruit soup you may need to add some water to help balance the flavor.

For some reason I am thinking if you could find a hard candy recipe, the grapefruit juice might make a great sour candy. I've never done anything like that so it's just an idea with no knowledge of whether it would actually work!

well my advice would be if u deslike grapefruit and still u would like to use it.
i may suggest you can make a salad and and use this citric to give that touch u can even mix it with lime if u dont want to havethat specific flavor.

I REALLY LIKE THAT RECIPIE. VERY ORIGINAL. : )