Grapefruit: a fruit with a bit of a complex

Art Culinaire, Winter, 2007

With only 300 years of history behind it, the grapefruit is a relative newborn in the citrus family. It took more than 200 years for this bittersweet beauty to earn a place at the breakfast table. What would it take to make it an everyday ingredient in cooking?

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The grapefruit's story begins in 1693 when an English captain named Shaddock transported some pummelo seeds from the East Indies to the West Indies. There they were planted close enough to sweet oranges for nature to combine them accidentally, making a whole new fruit. In 1750, Reverend Griffith Hughes named it "forbidden fruit" when he encountered it in Barbados. The name stuck until 1814, when naturalist John Lunan first recorded it as "grapefruit," most likely for the grape-like clusters in which it grows. Its Latin classification is Citrus x paradisi, or citrus of paradise.

The first grapefruit trees in the U.S. grew from seeds brought to Safety Harbor, Florida from the Bahamas in 1823, by Count Odette Philippe. Grown at first as an ornamental novelty, the grapefruit didn't generate a lot of culinary interest until a concerted effort was made in that direction. In 1870, Florida settler John A. MacDonald established a grapefruit nursery from the fruit of a single tree he particularly liked. By 1885, Florida was producing enough grapefruit that New York and Philadelphia were able to meet their small demand with domestic crops. By the end of the century, Texas began developing an unlikely trade in grapefruit after observing a single tree that repeatedly survived freezing. As a result, the Rio Grande Valley became a major source of grapefruit by 1910.

The 1930s, however, proved to be the pivotal decade for grapefruit. It was the time of the first major fad diet, the Hollywood Diet. Also known as the Grapefruit Diet, it prescribed a regimen of little more than grapefruit, black coffee and melba toast. Meanwhile, as some were struggling to lose weight, others were struggling to survive the Great Depression. Food stamps distributed by the welfare office entitled bearers to free grapefruit, a situation that introduced the fruit to many families who had never heard of it. Some lodged formal complaints that several hours of cooking did nothing to make the fruit more edible.

By the 1940s, people had finally developed a fondness for grapefruit, and production soared. Serrated grapefruit spoons were invented for the grapefruit halves that were now ubiquitous at breakfast while grapefruit-studded fruit cups began gracing the start of many a formal meal. Candied grapefruit peel became a homemade favorite, as did grapefruit marmalade, and the fresh-squeezed juice began gaining on orange in popularity. Today, the U.S. produces the majority of the world's grapefruit--about 1.23 million tons, or 40% of the total. Other major producers are China, South Africa, Mexico and Israel. Within the U.S., Florida is the largest producer, and also the largest in the world. Texas is a distant second, growing a crop that amounts to 12% of Florida's. Arid regions of Arizona and California also contribute a small quantity to the supply, most importantly during the spring and summer when Florida and Texas grapefruit are out of season.

Overall though, grapefruit sales have declined in recent years due in part to the discovery of the fruit's negative interaction with certain prescription drugs. A compound in the fruit called naringenin makes it difficult for the body to metabolize a drug, which allows more of the drug to be absorbed into the bloodstream, making it more powerful, and possibly even dangerous. The rest of the reason is competition. In a marketplace filled with more variety, people frequently pass over the bitter, sour flavor of grapefruit to reach for something sweeter.

Good, bitter, best

Although grapefruit are the offspring of the pummelo, the largest citrus fruit, the first grapefruit were no bigger than their other parent, the orange. Under cultivation, grapefruit became their more familiar size of three and a half to five inches in diameter. The Marsh, or Marsh Seedless, is the most common variety grown commercially. Duncan and Foster are other popular varieties, but not as widely available as the Marsh.

Pink grapefruit developed in the early 1900s and found a following overnight. Pink varieties of every hue began cropping up, including the Redblush, Star Ruby and Ruby Red. Ruby Red, the most intensely colored, is a mutation that turned up in Texas and ended up being the first with a U.S. patent. While some varieties are known for being redder than others, an individual pink grapefruit of any variety owes its final color to season, geographic location and soil type.

A ripe grapefruit should be heavy for its size, regardless of skin thickness. During the winter when grapefruit come from humid areas of Florida and Texas, the skins will be thin and the flesh extra juicy. In summer, the drier climates of Arizona and California produce grapefruit with thick skins and drier pulp. Otherwise, the fruit should be firm and give to gentle pressure but should not be overly soft at the stem end. Small imperfections in the skin are normal and don't offer any indication of quality.