Grapefruit Woes

Thanks. I have one down the street.

Rick

On 2016-12-21 14:37, HopeChest wrote:
Cocktail grapefruit are starting to show up at 99 Ranch markets, if you're lucky enough to have one near you.

On 2016-12-21 15:24, mikehooker wrote:
We've got Oro Blanco's at Whole Foods in Austin right now.

I stand corrected. A buddy of mine told me Whole Foods had white grapefruit so I assumed it was the same breed they carried a few months back but popped in yesterday to get some and they are in fact the much larger and more delicious Florida whites right now. I freakin' love these things!

Picked up four to start with but might go back for ten more just to squeeze and freeze.

I have been very happy with the two that I froze a few weeks ago. I definitely need to go back and get some more.

Rick

My grapefruit woes are over, I just discovered that a friend has several white grapefruit trees full of fruit! :D
While admittedly not quite as good as fresh, I freeze them in one ounce cubes and individually wrap them then thaw as needed.

Well, yesterday I went to my local Safeway (AKA “Hell on Earth”) to discover that they’ve stopped carrying white grapefruit juice. Now I’ve got to figure out another source. Hopefully a nearby Safeway still carries it; that’d be the easiest solution.

It's gone missing all over. Found 4 bottles at a Food City here, and that's it. Kroger used to carry 2 varieties. Nothing.

I know the Florida citrus industry has been suffering the past several years because of disease. Hopefully they're able to sustain a white grapefruit supply moving forward.

Florida whites usually make it to Austin between December-January and each year I find myself buying up more and more. I typically don't enjoy the flavor of pink or Texas red grapefruit but I can sit and devour me some whites. Last year I bought enough to eat one or two a week for a couple months, make plenty of fresh Zombie's, Donga Punches and Navy Grogs, and squeeze and freeze something like 70 ounces of juice which would allow me a couple Navy Grogs each week for the whole offseason. At this point with Navy Grog season around the corner, I'm down to about 5 ounces. I find even after nearly a year, despite taking on some freezer burn, the frozen supply tastes better than any bottled variety I've tried.

Last Christmas my wife drove out to Jacksonville to visit her family and found a nursery that had fruiting white grapefruit trees. One would fit in her vehicle, the other far too big. She had planned to surprise me by bringing one back. But the reasonable sized one was on hold for a customer coming down from Georgia so they wouldn't sell it to her. I have no tree. Just a sad tale.

Should I see ANY white grapefruit up here on the (soon to be frozen) North Coast this winter I'm definitely going to squeeze and freeze.

I don't think I've seen a white grapefruit in the wild for at least 2 years. :(

I'm juicing limes, oranges, and pineapple for freezing this weekend though. So I've got that going for me, which is good.

On 2018-11-01 16:10, mikehooker wrote:
At this point with Navy Grog season around the corner....

Wow; now this rivals the Christmas season for me.

I've never seen white grapefruit in real life, though I wonder if I could find them in Whole Foods or the like, of which we have plenty in Colorado but I hardly frequent, since I have to drive an hour to the nearest store.

48 cans, 5.5 oz each, about $20 if you can find it. Go online and search. Supplies are limited.

It's maddening that pink juice is all around us but white juice is not.

Another option, from my past... Currently $3.26 each bottle from Jet.com plus $5.99 shipping. Ships free if you order $35 or more. This used to be available from Walmart using their free website-to-store shipping, but at the moment they're only carrying the canned version of the product from a third party, and only one pack of the cans are left in stock at the moment. The Ocean Spray products feature juice from concentrate and water - pretty clean stuff. They are pasteurized so definitely a second-tier option way behind the awesomeness of fresh fruit juice. I really dislike the effect of pasteurization on juice flavor, but that's a requirement to extend shelf life from packaging to shipping to sales.

Watch those web searches -- "white grapefruit" often yields "white grape" products in search results.

At least there's some encouraging news on the grapefruit front.

It sounds like Florida growers have made a fantastic recovery from a few years ago.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/277368-citrus-growers-get-a-dose-of-good-news

Thanks, Ace. I've been contemplating those 5.5 cans, but I can't decide if I can use up 48 can in a reasonable amount of time.

Perhaps because of that good crop, we now have fresh ones in the grocery store here. One store chain always keeps them in season. Woo hoo!

Fresh ones seem pretty non-existant now but I have a friend with a tree, new crop will come in December. I was able to find bottled white at Von's past week, Von's "Signature" brand. Not bad for bottled juice

Since Vons and Safeway are owned by Albertsons, I'm pretty sure that Signature brand white grapefruit juice is the same stuff that my local store discontinued. I thought it was pretty good, too (considering I've never tested the fresh-squeezed stuff).

From August until mid-October I was finding white grapefruit in the organic produce department of the larger Kroger stores here in the greater Cincinnati area. They seem to be gone now, but I can find light pink grapefruit there. In the regular produce section, however, there's only the wretched red variety to be found.

Just found white grapefruit juice at Safeway in Fremont, CA

Whew. The store brand (pasteurized, from-concentrate) white grapefruit juice has returned to my local shelves, too.

Hi Everyone - It's been quite a while since I've posted.

Our local grocers stopped carrying Florida white grapefruit a few years ago, I have relied solely on mail-ordering produce from Hale Groves.

We are still in the midst of the season but it ends soon. If you store these in cold storage they do last for 3 to 4 months. I always get an order at the end of the season to squeeze and freeze during the dry produce summer months. :)

We do still get the Oroblanco/Melogold back-pomelo-cross grapefruit varietals from California groves though they are their own delight and do not necessarily compare with the Florida.

https://www.halegroves.com/sweet-white-grapefruit/p/sweetwhitegrapefruit/

I don't think ANY white grapefruit has made its way all the way up to the deep freeze that is the North Coast for a good long time now.

I certainly haven't seen any- apart from the $5.99/ea organic ones, and stuff that.

Even the blasted pomelos we get up here are stupid expensive.

I've had to settle for a juice which appears to be part pink and part white.
Somewhere, up on some heavenly beach, Don is probably weeping at my predicament.

“The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, the effect of which is like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.”

[ Edited by: Sandbartender 2019-02-01 13:55 ]

I found Florida White Grapefruit at Jungle Jim's Grocery in Greater Cincinnati last week for 89 cents each. I bought 20 of them. I need to buy, juice and freeze as much as I possibly can until they disappear, which will be any time now.

The Safeway store brand white grapefruit juice has disappeared from local shelves again. It reminded me of a conversation I was having with Adrian (PolynesianPop) and others at Tiki-Ti back in April that Ocean Spray was supposedly discontinuing their 5 oz cans, but not sure that's accurate; it looks like cases are still available on Amazon (and cheaper on webstaurantstore.com). I'm thinking of the middle ground of 32 oz bottles; Walmart.com has them for a decent price.

Anybody else having trouble getting the white juice?

On 2019-05-27 18:08, Hamo wrote:
Anybody else having trouble getting the white juice?

Yarp. Still high and dry (at least as far as white grapefruit goes) up here on the North Coast. I've not seen an actual white grapefruit nor any sort of pure white juice in at least 3 years, and that's being kind. It's probably more like 4-5. :(

I never realized white grapefruit juice was so hard to find in certain parts of the country. While it doesn't take up as big of a chunk of the juice aisle as it used to, you can still get it at pretty much any supermarket in the Boston area.

On 2019-05-27 18:08, Hamo wrote:
I'm thinking of the middle ground of 32 oz bottles

I used to buy 64 oz containers (all that's available around here) and throw about ~60 oz of it away. But you can freeze it and it will easily last a few months, just thaw the cubes in the microwave as needed. If you want it to really keep it a long time you can freeze it and then use a vacuum sealer to vacuum seal the cubes (what I do for all my weird juices these days), I've used cubes 6+ months old doing that and they are fine.

I also keep all my juices/syrups in containers sealed with vac-u-vin wine stoppers, I find this helps with the shelf life in the fridge as well.

Shields Date Farm in Indio, CA had white grapefruit when I stopped in this past weekend. You can also order them online if you are desperate.
https://www.shieldsdategarden.com/p-767-white-grapefruit-small-box.aspx

You can buy white grapefruit juice online from Wal-Mart. 2-pack of Ocean Spray 32-ounce bottles for $5.48.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/2-pack-Ocean-Spray-Bar-Pac-Mixer-100-Juice-White-Grapefruit-32-Fl-Oz-1-Count/772070967?adid=22222222227264282568&selectedSellerId=0&veh=sem&wl0=&wl1=g&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=772070967&wl13=&wl2=c&wl3=314211082553&wl4=pla-574055189003&wl5=1013962&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wmlspartner=wlpa

Maybe it's just me but there's a bitterness to the Ocean Spray juice that I am unable to get past. A million thanks for the Shields Date Garden link, though - I can get loads of great stuff here in the Bay Area but proper white grapefruit seems to be as rare as hen's teeth. I am definitely going to order a box!

Couldn't agree with you more. I'm lucky enough to be able to get Florida whites a couple months out of the year, and I typically squeeze and freeze 50+ ounces to get me through the off-season. The bottled varieties are from concentrate and have a very bitter, off-putting flavor that overpowers drinks and is not indicative of the actual flavor of whites. NOTHING compares to them. I personally avoid Navy Grogs or anything else with white grapefruit in it if they're made with bottled juice.

Thanks for the tip on WalMart. No shipping fees if delivered to a local store. Done!

On 2019-05-31 07:24, kevincrossman wrote:
Thanks for the tip on WalMart. No shipping fees if delivered to a local store. Done!

I’m leaning toward this option, too, though I’ve an hour drive to the nearest Walmart. Still, the fresh grapefruit from Shields is very tempting....

I ordered my brother-in-law's birthday gift from Walmart and added four bottles of the white grapefruit juice to reach the $35 threshold for free two-day shipping. I think I agree with HopeChest; I'm not too impressed with Ocean Spray's flavor, but it's the best I can do at the moment. Now I just need to make some cinnamon syrup....

I tried this tonight. It's white grapefruit juice and (to me) tastes fresher than the bottled product:

https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-frozen-grapefruit-juice/0001111087752

I mixed the reconstituted white grapefruit juice about 3:1 with some freshly squeezed pink GF juice. It's the best I've mixed with since my supply of white Florida GF ran out.

I struck white gold at Kroger today. The sign said red grapefruit, however they looked rather promising with their pale exterior color and perfect roundness. I thought maybe I had found pink. Got home cut them open and to my astonishment I had bought white grapefruit. Navy Grog, here I come.

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2019-09-01 19:10 ]

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2019-09-01 19:10 ]

On 2019-09-01 18:32, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
I struck white gold at Kroger today. The sign said red grapefruit, however they looked rather promising with their pale exterior color and perfect roundness. I thought maybe I had found pink. Got home cut them open and to my astonishment I had bought white grapefruit. Navy Grog, here I come.

That's a great score! My Kroger-owned grocery still doesn't even have the frozen white gf juice, never mind actual white grapefruit. :(

If the Ocean Spray 100% White Grapefruit Juice is acceptable to you (in the absence of fresh), you can order two 32 ounce bottles form WalMart online. For 6 bucks and some change they will deliver it to your local store for pickup. Amazon carries it also but only in 12 packs of 32 oz bottles or 48 packs of 5 oz cans

Ok so I did not read this whole thread so if this is here sorry.

BUT have you seen these what they call Cocktail Grapefruits?
It is the green ones with the small bit of yellow, they were ripe when I ate one and they were indeed white inside.

The flavor was not as harsh as a regular Grapefruit and my wife said they had a "lite grapefruit flavor"

These might be good for your drinks?
Saw these 12/10/19 in Columbus Ohio.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2019-12-19 16:29 ]

I thought it was closer to an orange. Slightly sour.

On 2019-12-24 21:40, kevincrossman wrote:
I thought it was closer to an orange. Slightly sour.

Odd the ones we got were not sour at all.
LOTS of seeds though.

I struck gold when we bought a house in Escondido in 2015.
It has a White Grapefruit tree that has amazing fruit. Intense, punch-you-in-the-face flavor. Haven't found anything store-bought that remotely compares. It yields late, which works out better for spring and summer events.
I do hope it continues to give such awesome product, I always worry about its health. The yield seems to fluctuate yearly.

This has really helped me with Reverb Crashes and Navy Grogs.

Occasionally I find some "locally grown" Grapefruit at a Jimbo's store not far from us. I got some recently and will try them tomorrow.

Ran

For anyone in the Greater Cincinnati area: Jungle Jim's International Market has Florida white grapefruit in stock at both locations. I just squeezed a couple and they are wonderfully pungent.

On 2020-01-10 18:50, kick_the_reverb wrote:
I struck gold when we bought a house in Escondido in 2015.
It has a White Grapefruit tree that has amazing fruit. Intense, punch-you-in-the-face flavor. Haven't found anything store-bought that remotely compares. It yields late, which works out better for spring and summer events.
I do hope it continues to give such awesome product, I always worry about its health. The yield seems to fluctuate yearly.

This has really helped me with Reverb Crashes and Navy Grogs.

Occasionally I find some "locally grown" Grapefruit at a Jimbo's store not far from us. I got some recently and will try them tomorrow.

Ran

So jealous! In Texas we usually get the Florida Indian River white grapefruits from the end of November through part of January. I absolutely adore them and will buy a case or more of them each year. I eat them for breakfast several days a week, squeeze and freeze 40-60 oz for off-season Navy Grog's and enjoy as much as possible of the fresh juice in cocktails. Curious how the Florida breed differs, if at all, from the ones grown on the west coast. My wife went to a nursery in Jacksonville a few years ago hoping to bring a tree home for me to see how it would fare here, but they didn't have one that would fit in her car. I believe they said the breed they grow there is called Duncan. Would be awesome to have these fresh in the spring and summer.

"I always worry about its health. The yield seems to fluctuate yearly."

Check for ants at the base of the tree my favorite green apple tree was killed this year by ants building a nest in the base of the tree.
Not my tree it was in a park but I do go and pick apples every year.

Also feed it, not sure but I think spring and summer is the time to do it.
It will make a big difference in your yield.

Remember lots of rain can leach out the nutrients and even keep the bees from pollinating the flowers too, bet your bad yield years were the rainy ones.
On the other hand no rain can be bad for sure, but you can water the tree in that case.

Also if you go to your tree with a paint brush and pollinate that tree by hand you will be amazed how much that helps.
Did that with tomato's this year and they went nuts, and we have five bee keepers in our area, lazy bees.

Good luck.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/citrus/fertilizing-citrus-trees-best-practices-for-citrus-fertilizing.htm

On 2020-01-10 20:33, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
For anyone in the Greater Cincinnati area: Jungle Jim's International Market has Florida white grapefruit in stock at both locations. I just squeezed a couple and they are wonderfully pungent.

For peeps in the Greater Cincinnati area: Jungle Jim's had oodles of white grapefruit again today - from California this time. I bought 8 of them.

Anyone living in Southern California, I randomly decided to stop at the Gelsons in Dana Point. I think my tiki radar was on because lo and behold, they had a mountain of gigantic white grapefruits. I think I scared the worker who was stocking other fruit right next to me because I might have squealed and immediately grabbed half the pile. This is the first time I’ve seen them in at least 2 years. On my 3rd navy grog......delicious!

Mahalo everyone. I ran across 'Melogold White Florida Grapefruit' at a local store today. I googled them and learned they are a cross between a Pummelo and a White Grapefruit. A website described them as sweet. Has anyone ever this variety in Tiki Cocktails?

On 2020-03-08 20:01, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
Mahalo everyone. I ran across 'Melogold White Florida Grapefruit' at a local store today. I googled them and learned they are a cross between a Pummelo and a White Grapefruit. A website described them as sweet. Has anyone ever this variety in Tiki Cocktails?

Yep, I've tried them and they don't work for me as a replacement for true white grapefruit. Pumelos no good either. Nor are oro blancos or "cocktail" grapefruits. In my experience anyway. Your mileage may vary. The only success I've had with using grapefruit successfully in classic tiki cocktails is with the Florida Indian River white grapefruit. Nothing else comes close. That's not to say you can't make good drinks with other varieties, I just don't think they'll have the flavor originally intended and you'll have to make adjustments.

On 2020-03-09 13:59, mikehooker wrote:

On 2020-03-08 20:01, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
Mahalo everyone. I ran across 'Melogold White Florida Grapefruit' at a local store today. I googled them and learned they are a cross between a Pummelo and a White Grapefruit. A website described them as sweet. Has anyone ever this variety in Tiki Cocktails?

Yep, I've tried them and they don't work for me as a replacement for true white grapefruit. Pumelos no good either. Nor are oro blancos or "cocktail" grapefruits. In my experience anyway. Your mileage may vary.

Personally, I quite like the Melogolds and Oro Blancos. Like, a LOT.