Grapefruit
By Michael O Meara
Oscars Bistro, Galway City www.oscarsbistro.ie
Big juicy and utterly delicious, the grapefruit is a fantastic and versatile fruit, great on its own or as part of a dessert. The grapefruit is possibly the largest commonly available citrus fruit cultivated from the larger pomelo which was first recorded in the sub-tropical region of Barbados the fruit was also known as the ‘forbidden fruit’ or ‘Shaddock’. It was Captain Shaddock who brought the first pomelo seeds to Jamaica which led to the first true grapefruit. The name grapefruit was likely conceived due to the way the fruit grows in clusters on the tree almost as a bunch of grapes. This fruit is an excellent source of vitamin C and is particularly valued as a breakfast fruit, with its bitter sweet taste making it a very refreshing part of the morning meal.
There are two main varieties of grapefruit being the Duncan and Marsh, the Duncan is the more flavourful. Grapefruits became particularly popular with the introduction of the red or ruby grapefruit which is now the more popular variety over the traditional yellow types, the pink variety of grapefruit can not be canned as they loose their colour. Conversely about half the world grapefruit crop is made into juice.
Grapefruit are not particularly good for savoury dishes as they tend to dominate in flavour, making them a better choice for sweet and desert type dishes, but grapefruit marmalade is a real treat when made well.
The grapefruit has been successfully crossed with a number of citrus fruits such as the tangerine grapefruit cross the ‘tangalo’ other grapefruit crosses include the ugly fruit.
Grapefruit is great for breakfast and makes a fantastic component to a citrus salad.
Simply peel and segment an orange, pink grapefruit, yellow grapefruit, mandarin orange and a blood orange, then squeeze the juice of a lime all over the segments. In summer a dollop of lemon sorbet served atop a simple citrus salad makes a refreshing and healthy start to any day.
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