Grapefruit Woes

DAMN! The white grapefruit season is finished.

Over the past months here in the Midwest I have been spoiled by a continuous supply of the biggest, juiciest Oro Blancos that I've seen in years. Every grocery store in the area was stocked with white grapefruit that was heavy for its size, and laden with juice. That all ended this week; there's nothing to be found but ruby red grapefruit now. I'm drinking a Black Magic right now, and finished a Navy Grog ten minutes ago, and the drinks just aren't the same with red grapefruit juice; they lack acidity, 'bite', and classic grapefruit notes. In years past when white grapefruit hasn't been available I've resorted to using bottled white grapefruit juice, and adding small amounts of freshly squeezed red (or pink) grapefruit juice to freshen up the bottled stuff, with moderate success. So I'm wondering-what are other TCer's doing when they can't get fresh white grapefruit?

Try the stuff in the cartons, as opposed to bottled. It's "less-unfresh."

On 2012-04-22 00:47, jokeiii wrote:
Try the stuff in the cartons, as opposed to bottled. It's "less-unfresh."

Thanks for the reply Jokeiii. Just to be clear, what do you mean by cartons?

I thought California Texas and Arizona started producing white grapefruit now? They are not avaliable year round? I know they are near impossible to find in AZ ever unless you know someone with a tree

I can't get white grapefruit in any store within a couple hours of where I live. I can get them through one of our suppliers at work but the smallest pack size is 5 lbs. I can't go through 5 lbs. during their shelf life with drinks alone so I end up finding other uses for some. Beats not having them at all.

By cartons I mean the stuff in the refrigerated case that comes in cartons, like milk or refrigerated OJ. My preference of this kind of juice is Florida's Natural but in some markets only the Ruby Red is available. Tropicana is pretty good in this format, too...and likely more readily available everywhere. (This stuff is miles better than juice in bottles or cans.)

[ Edited by: jokeiii 2012-04-22 18:23 ]

On 2012-04-22 18:20, jokeiii wrote:
By cartons I mean the stuff in the refrigerated case that comes in cartons, like milk or refrigerated OJ. My preference of this kind of juice is Florida's Natural but in some markets only the Ruby Red is available. Tropicana is pretty good in this format, too...and likely more readily available everywhere. (This stuff is miles better than juice in bottles or cans.)

[ Edited by: jokeiii 2012-04-22 18:23 ]

Damn, that would be perfect! Unfortunately, just as you said, only ruby red is available in cartons in these parts.

As far as I can tell, there is only one not-from-concentrate white grapefruit (actually a combo of white and pink but not ruby red) available in a carton in Alberta, which is the 100% Florida Grapefruit from Superstore. However, I'm on holiday in Phoenix right now and I just made a few drinks from grapefruits freshly picked from my uncle's tree and I can truly say I will never be able to duplicate these back home. Fresh (really fresh) squeezed makes an enormous difference!

On 2012-04-22 19:23, CincyTikiCraig wrote:

Damn, that would be perfect! Unfortunately, just as you said, only ruby red is available in cartons in these parts.

Many grocery stores, maybe most, will order things they can get but don't stock if you are willing to buy whole cases. If they stock ruby red, but can get white if they wanted, they should be able to order a case for you. You might have to pay in advance if they don't want to stock the item and they don't want to get stuck with it if you don't buy it once it comes in. No harm in asking.

Incidentally, fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice freezes pretty well.

saw a simply grapefruit in the store today but it didnt look golden it had a redish hue, i think i have no choice but to go with the ocean spray in the big jug :(

On 2012-04-26 22:25, Dapuma1 wrote:
saw a simply grapefruit in the store today but it didnt look golden it had a redish hue, i think i have no choice but to go with the ocean spray in the big jug :(

That's what I ended up doing tonight. It was either that or squeezing a ruby red. I added a little freshly squeezed ruby red juice into the Ocean Spray to give the bottled juice some freshness. It's working OK, but fresh white juice is still the tops.

I'm drinking a Navy Grog made with the Ocean spray bottled white grapefruit juice, spiked with some fresh squeezed ruby red juice.

The result is a pretty anemic drink; it lacks pungent grapefruit character, "punch", and acidity. Upon reconsideration, I think that ANY fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, regardless of variety, is preferable to this kind of bottled juice.

Grapefruit, Grapefruit, Bla Bla Bla, Grapefruit........ad nauseum

On 2012-04-27 23:13, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Grapefruit, Grapefruit, Bla Bla Bla, Grapefruit........ad nauseum

It's a vital component of Tiki cocktails. We shouldn't discuss?

Agreed, fresh white grapefruit juice can be key. Fortunately, when fresh white grapefruit is not found locally, internet sellers are there to step in. Okay, so it might mean some extra $$ but it's there.

Here are a few examples:

http://www.halegroves.com/Fresh-White-Grapefruit-indian-river-grapefruit-226.cfm

http://www.orangesonline.com/whitegrapefruit/

http://www.crosscreekgroves.com/White-Grapefruit.aspx

http://www.boudriasgroves.com/whitegrapefruit.php

Google is your friend...

On 2012-04-27 23:50, Hakalugi wrote:
Agreed, fresh white grapefruit juice can be key. Fortunately, when fresh white grapefruit is not found locally, internet sellers are there to step in. Okay, so it might mean some extra $$ but it's there.

Here are a few examples:

http://www.halegroves.com/Fresh-White-Grapefruit-indian-river-grapefruit-226.cfm

http://www.orangesonline.com/whitegrapefruit/

http://www.crosscreekgroves.com/White-Grapefruit.aspx

http://www.boudriasgroves.com/whitegrapefruit.php

Google is your friend...

Thanks for posting those links Hakalugi! Many of us pay to order rums, syrups etc that we can't get at home, so why not the fruit as well?

Most of those places the Marsh Grapefruits are out of season

Also they cannot ship citrus into AZ - some state law

I mark the passing of the season by buying as much as I can (was sleeping at the switch this year, My lovely wife Heather got the last 30 at our local produce market):

I squeezed & freezed about 196oz (1.5 gal) of the liquid gold. I hope it gets me through. That will make about 261 Navy Grogs. Hm. That may not be enough! :wink:

We tiki folk love our Grapefruit - it's part of the Barbados trinity: Rum, grapefruit, Falernum.

Here's how crazy I get -- I even cut my globes a certain way to assure the highest quality of juice:

The Cutting of the Grapefruit

I'm surprised you can get white grapefruit in Portland, OR, while it is nearly impossible to buy them in the store here in Southern California. We have tons of Ruby Red grapefruit, pomelos, and oroblancos, but not actual white grapefruit. The best way to find them here in SoCal is to find someone with a tree. I did see them for sale once in Whole Foods a couple of years ago.

I hear the same thing from my friends in So Cal. It was a very strange (and happy) discovery come winter grapefruit season when I found the local 'regular' Fred Meyer's grocery stores stock the (what I assume to be) Marsh seedless whites.

We have a local 'cruchy-granola' chain called New Seasons that goes futher and stocks Oroblanco, Melogold, Chandler Pomelos, 'cocktail' citrus (another grapefruit hybrid), Ugli fruit, etc.

And apart from the generic whites (usually from Florida), the rare varietals are all FROM So Cal!

I mean - the horticultural citrus mecca is right there at UC Riverside...

On 2012-05-04 14:11, TikiSan wrote:
I'm surprised you can get white grapefruit in Portland, OR, while it is nearly impossible to buy them in the store here in Southern California. We have tons of Ruby Red grapefruit, pomelos, and oroblancos, but not actual white grapefruit. The best way to find them here in SoCal is to find someone with a tree. I did see them for sale once in Whole Foods a couple of years ago.

have any of youse ever been hit by a flying grapefruit? those suckers hurt, man. be careful of what you wish for...

found some marsh grapefruit at whole foods, they are awesome - navy groging it up :)

On 2012-05-12 13:29, Dapuma1 wrote:
found some marsh grapefruit at whole foods, they are awesome - navy groging it up :)

What city are you in?

i found that in the south they still sell canned white grapefruit juice, which was a pleasant surprise when we were traveling through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Alabama. Maybe you can order from a grocery chain there. Friends of mine are now renting a house that has two white grapefruit trees in their yard so i now have access to fresh juice, which here is pretty much year around.
Will try to pick some up before heading to Tiki Ti on wednesday for anyone local interested

[ Edited by: OceaOtica 2012-05-13 10:18 ]

Unless I'm making large batches of the Reverb Crash (4oz of white grapefruit juice per drink) the large bottles of Ocean Spray white grapefruit juice available here will go "off" before I can use it up.
To solve this problem I buy a case of 48 Ocean Spray 5.5oz cans of the juice for about $36. delivered from Amazon.com. It may seem pricey to some, but I don't have to worry about the juice going off as I can use it up much quicker.
Now . . . fresh white grapefruits are nearly impossible to find - even here in Florida. It seems that the pink and ruby red are all that are carried in the grocery stores. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.

On 2012-05-14 11:30, GentleHangman wrote:
Unless I'm making large batches of the Reverb Crash (4oz of white grapefruit juice per drink) the large bottles of Ocean Spray white grapefruit juice available here will go "off" before I can use it up.
To solve this problem I buy a case of 48 Ocean Spray 5.5oz cans of the juice for about $36. delivered from Amazon.com. It may seem pricey to some, but I don't have to worry about the juice going off as I can use it up much quicker.
Now . . . fresh white grapefruits are nearly impossible to find - even here in Florida. It seems that the pink and ruby red are all that are carried in the grocery stores. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.

Just curious if you ever run across the Indian River grapefruit down there in Florida? I remember seeing a lot of them when I was in Marco Island a few years ago. Anyone know how they work in cocktails??

Quote:
Just curious if you ever run across the Indian River grapefruit down there in Florida? I remember seeing a lot of them when I was in Marco Island a few years ago. Anyone know how they work in cocktails??

Yes, but sadly no white grapefruit- ruby red yes/white no. I've even checked the roadside produce/fruit stands along US1 from Stuart to Vero Beach. Most of the groves are now gone - replaced by developments or "Tree Farms". Even the movie star Frances Langford had her own small grove in Jensen Beach where lemons, limes and two varieties of grapefruit were grown - for her Outrigger Restaurant - but they're gone now as well. And yes, Indian River citrus worked extremely well in cocktails; mostly orange juice and red/pink grapefruit. The orange and pink grapefruit juice is still available in the stores.
A few years ago an outbreak of citrus cankor(sp?) affected many of the large groves to the extent that they never recovered. Even the orange season isn't what it used to be. Now most of our citrus comes from California - our limes from Maxico.

I am very, very thrilled to report that after months of searching I found the very first White Grapefruit of the season at Kroger today. I am drinking the best Navy Grog that I've had in months right now. Here's to a long, juicy White Grapefruit season!

As a tip for those in Southern California, check your local farmers market. I came away from grocery stores empty handed time and again. But my local farmers market has plenty of Oro Blanco grapefruit, and for cheap. It's now a regular stop for me and I can stop searching megamarts.

Kevin

A good tip for those who live in Southern California. Just plant a white grapefruit tree....

Forgive my uncultured palette, but I just love ruby red grapefruit.

On 2012-07-18 17:52, Fish Canoe wrote:
Forgive my uncultured palette, but I just love ruby red grapefruit.

Honestly, I think fresh red gf works great; if it's considered too sweet, just back of the sugar/sugar syrup in the recipe

I've found White Grapefruit at Bristol Farms and State Bros in L.A. and Orange County for $2 each in the past couple of months.

On 2012-06-30 19:12, hiltiki wrote:

A good tip for those who live in Southern California. Just plant a white grapefruit tree....

That is ideal if you have the yard space. How long do the trees take until they start producing usable fruit? I see White Grapefruit trees for sale at Home Depot, Costco, and several other stores.

I too am a fan of the UNSWEETENED, 100% ruby red juice (not the 40% juice/60% sugar water Ocean Spray stuff) Simply Grapefruit is a good brand for me ~ fresh, not from concentrate, no preservatives, readily avail at WalMart and Von's/Safeway. It even freezes well without the quality suffering too much - I keep an emergency bottle in the freezer and rotate it out every month or so.

Ha Ha ATP :D. @ CincyTikicraig. We just got to make do whats available to us. Yes. Bottled white grape fruit juice is not the same. Its 100% but its from concentrate. Not the best, but you will have to wait till next season.

Thanks to Q-Tiki, I found white grapefruits in town. Very short time here. I intend to make Navy Grogs for a taste comparison.

Does anyone know:
How can I make the fruit last longer? Fridge or on the counter? I am considering grabbing a bunch more, but want them to last. I got a fairly green one as a hedge.

How can I make the juice last longer. Someone mentioned freezing it. Any experience?

Too laet! I answered my own questions:

When you are shopping for your citrus fruits, seek ones that are firm and the heavier the better. Heavier citrus fruits will contain additional juice inside of them then the ones that are lighter in weight which are much better for juicing and also for making any cakes out of your citrus fruits. Do not select ones that are wrinkled or have shriveled skins on them as they may be rather dry inside and not worth your money. Citrus fruits that do not have any spots that may be dried out, rough or moldy are ones to leave at the store. To begin storing your fruits, you can generally leave them on a counter top for five to seven days just at room temperature. Do not leave the citrus fruits in a path of heavy direct sunlight such as under a skylight or right next to a window. If you wish to prolong the lifespan of your citrus fruits, you can place them in any type of plastic bag or some prefer a cheesecloth wrapping and store them right in the refrigerator. It is safe to place them on a shelf or inside a crisper drawer in there to extend the life of your oranges, grapefruits and lemons. When you keep them fresh by refrigerating them, you can actually keep them for a few weeks as opposed to the average few days you receive out of leaving them on the counter. Choose the best looking citrus you can find at your local market and store them properly to lock in those flavors and enjoy them much longer.

The bottom line is, put them in a plastic bag (to prevent them from drying out) in the fridge and they will last 4 times as long.

I have my own pink grapefruit, orange and lime trees, and they produce excellent juices. I freeze juice for the off-season and use specialty ice molds to make storage easier and more dense than traditional cube trays. (I will try to post a photo in the near future.) This works very well, I have not been disappointed. It also allows me to make spur-of-the-moment cocktails when I don't have fresh fruits to juice at home and I don't want to make a midnight run to a grocery store. Freezing fresh juices is a good way for me to increase the "spontaneity factor" in addition to helping maintain the quality of what I can serve in my home.

Side note -- Any "made from concentrate" juice tends to be very inferior, in my experience, so I go out of my way to avoid it if at all possible. I am seriously considering planting white grapefruit if I can find a nice location with adequate sun. I'm moving to a new home where the landscaping includes a lot of tall oak trees. Will also be considering the addition of some tropical palms, etc. too, just to confuse and mess with the neighbors. heh...

On 2012-11-09 08:16, AceExplorer wrote:
I have my own pink grapefruit, orange and lime trees, and they produce excellent juices. I freeze juice for the off-season and use specialty ice molds to make storage easier and more dense than traditional cube trays. (I will try to post a photo in the near future.) This works very well, I have not been disappointed. It also allows me to make spur-of-the-moment cocktails when I don't have fresh fruits to juice at home and I don't want to make a midnight run to a grocery store. Freezing fresh juices is a good way for me to increase the "spontaneity factor" in addition to helping maintain the quality of what I can serve in my home.

Side note -- Any "made from concentrate" juice tends to be very inferior, in my experience, so I go out of my way to avoid it if at all possible. I am seriously considering planting white grapefruit if I can find a nice location with adequate sun. I'm moving to a new home where the landscaping includes a lot of tall oak trees. Will also be considering the addition of some tropical palms, etc. too, just to confuse and mess with the neighbors. heh...

That makes sense. Freeze the juice in an ice tray and then transfer to zip-lock bags to keep it from dehyrating. Worth a try. Especially if we get hooked on this fresh juice. Going to do a trial run of Navy Grogs tonight to see how it compares.

Yup... I bought a couple of extra ice trays just for juice cubes. I was totally surprised to find the whites here in Knoxville. It's the first time i have seen them.
I guess I'll be juicing very soon!

Cheers and Aloha!

I spotted Florida white's at the local upscale grocer a couple weeks ago:

I bought two and used them pretty quickly, returned to the store less than a week later and they only had 8 fruits in the bin! I assumed it was the end of their supply and erroneously only grabbed four of them, thinking that would tide me over since there's no way I'd get through 8 before they spoiled. Of course I hadn't considered the possibility of squeezing and freezing as a couple people have pointed out here. I went back again and they were of course all gone. I did see a small selection of Melogold's which I disregarded but now reading through this thread realize they are another variety of white and I should have grabbed some of those. I'm sure they are all gone as well.

Now that I got my misfortunes/frustrations out of the way, I wanted to discuss some juice matters. I've tried several varieties of fresh, bottled and cartoned juices. Those fresh squeezed Florida whites are hands down my favorite. Despite what I've read about pinks and reds being sweeter, I find those varieties to be much more bitter than the Florida whites. The whites to me taste similar to an orange with mild bitter/sour/lemony notes. It's a fruit I'd actually eat on it's own whereas the Texas reds to me are pretty nasty. Am I crazy here? Are these Florida whites to be considered oro blanco or is that a different variety? Irregardless, I find these Florida whites to work better in drinks that call for grapefruit than any other fresh fruit or packaged juice I've bought so I'm sad that my supply is super limited. This brings me to my next quandary...

I normally keep my fruits out at room temperature and use them before they turn, but I put my extra grapefruits in the fridge to prolong their life since I don't know how quickly I want to go through them yet. Uncut, can I expect a few weeks of freshness? If I just want to make one drink that calls for a small amount of grapefruit juice, is it better to just cut out a couple slivers to juice, then put the remaining cut open fruit in a bag to store in the fridge, or should I go ahead and juice and bottle the remainder? I'm thinking if I just put the cut fruit back in the fridge, it may dry out and lose flavor quicker. Is there any logic in that? I recently did the opposite, squeezing a whole grapefruit to see how much juice one would produce (just over 5 ounces), used what I needed for a Navy Grog and stored the rest in the fridge. After two days the squeezed/bottled juice was still fragrant and tasty, which differs from stored lime juice. As an example, when I'm entertaining guests I'll pre-squeeze a crap ton of limes and some times end up with excess juice that I refrigerate. Usually within a day, and especially two, the juice is flavorless. It appears grapefruit can hang a little longer but when is the turning point?

Lastly, in an effort to preserve juice for the off season, a couple people have mentioned putting the juice in ice trays then popping the frozen cubes out and putting them in plastic baggies. What kind of trays do you guys use?

I think that's all I got for now. It's about time to make a drink...

I do plastic ice trays, these are the ones I got from 99 cent store. Each section holds 1/2 oz of liquid so its perfect. I dump the grapefruit ice cubes in my electric mixer along with other ingredients when making a cocktail and it works real well, so easy.

[ Edited by: hiltiki 2016-02-13 16:25 ]

For anybody in SoCal, right now is the time to buy Oro Blanco - seen them at the local farmer's markets and a few grocery stores. They're really sweet and good this year.

I've already made Reverb Crashes and Navy Grogs and about to make some Big Bamboos, what's another good grapefruit heavy drink?

Rum Barrels use 2 oz. per drink

Which is your favorite version of the Rum Barrel?

On 2016-02-26 19:29, wupput wrote:
Which is your favorite version of the Rum Barrel?

If you’re asking me Wupp’ it’s dis one. My second favorite drink. My fave is T V’s 1944 Mai Tai

Barrel O' Rum by The Atomic Grog, June 2011.(Photo by Hurricane Hayward)

• 2 ounces white Puerto Rican
 or Virgin Islands rum
* 2 ounces dark Jamaican rum
* 2 ounces fresh lime juice
* 2 ounces orange juice
* 2 ounces white grapefruit juice
* 2 ounces passion fruit syrup
* 1 teaspoon honey mix
(equal parts honey, water)
  I use Meyer’s for both rums, homemade Passionfruit syrup and bottled white grapefruit juice. White grapefruit are tough to find and the pink changes the drink completely. This drink will challenge your taste buds with a mouthful of flavors.
  Cheers

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2016-02-27 01:13 ]