Pink Grapefruit – healthy eating

December 30, 2019 – Pink Grapefruit – healthy eating

  

       I might have blogged about this before, but the art of sectioning grapefruit is something everyone should at least try to see if they can perfect.  There is nothing like this “art form” as the citrus smell is intoxicating, the plump ruby red flesh of the grapefruit is unadulterated with any white bits and the excessive juice runs down your wrist and drops into the bowl.

         I choose grapefruit that have shiny tight skin and are heavy.  Trust me, on this, lift one from the front of the bin and then one from the back – you will discover which ones are left overs and which ones are the freshest.  You want the heaviest of them. When you find the heavy ones, then look for the tight shinny skin.  Shriveled equals less juice.

         I lay out a dishtowel and then put a small carving board on top of that.  This helps with a cleanup.  I have a serrated vegetable knife with a thin point – example pictured below.

         I place a bowl to catch the fruit as I section it.  With the grapefruit on its side, I slice off the top and bottoms – healthy slice so that you see all the pink with no white pith – ½ inch to 3/4^th inch slice.  Then I set the fruit on its end and slice concavely down the side, lapping as I go around it so that only pink is showing. Nip off all those little bits of white pith – they will get in the way as well as ruin the flavor.  You are taking a healthy slab off as you rotate the fruit.  Turn it over and do the other side.  What you want is the interior of the grapefruit with nothing but pink exposed.  No, you are not wasting anything.  If you think there is too much pink fruit in the skinned off slices – hold each over the bowl and run your thumb nail across them to “juice” it into the bowl.  See – nothing is really wasted – the juice is just as exciting as the sections.

         Next, you hold the wet pink fruit in your non-dominate hand.  As I am right-handed to write or cut with, I hold the fruit in the half-open palm of my left hand.  With my right hand, I pierce the tip of the knife close to the center along a membrane, pull the knife outward so that it slices the white membrane from the fruit section. Return the knife to the valley [center] and then press down scraping along the other side of the white membrane and flip the section into the bowl.  Continue around the fruit, relieving each section from white membranes on each side of the sections as you slowly roll it in your left hand. 

         Get comfortable with your knife.  Learning this technique takes a bit of time, as you slide the sections into the waiting bowl. This process does take a few minutes, be patient with yourself. I suggest you do it the night before you need it. 

         You will get better the more you do this.  If you wear reading glasses, I suggest you wear them as you do this so that you can see clearly.  When you get to the end, you will have all the membranes in your hand and you squeeze the juice from that into the bowl.

         Cover the bowl and chill.  I usually cut them the night before or hours before I need them. I always use a glass bowl with a snap on plastic lid.  I have a favorite bowl that will hold about two grapefruit.  Any extra sections that don’t fit in I simply pop in my mouth during clean up – I earned them.

         Next morning, spoon some into a small bowl and let the pink fruit explode in your mouth.  With no white pith it is sweet, cold, and refreshing.

         It is cold and flu season;  put some real Vitamin C in your body – your body will love it.

         Below is a wonderful website that shows you how if you can’t figure out my instructions.  I get a yield of about 1 ½ cups per large pink grapefruit, including the juice.  That is the best part, lift that little bowl up to slurp it with a “AHH”.  [Who is looking?  I am at home in my pajamas!]

http://foodperson.com/2008/12/15/grapefruit-sections-without-membranes/