The grapefruit tree (Citrus × paradisi) in my permaculture food forest is laden. I love to eat the fruit sliced in half for breakfast, but I’m pretty sure I can’t eat all of those before they start to fall and rot.

What else can I do with this large and hardy fruit apart from half slices for breakfast and making marmalade?

This is what I explore in the latest film I made in my garden.

 A dozen ideas of things to do with abundant grapefruits:

1. Juice it – separately, or added to a citrus blend, or a green juice.  Use whatever is fresh and seasonal now.
2. Add to smoothies – banana and grapefruit is the simplest, you can add yoghurt
3. Mix with morning oats, chia, yoghurt and ground nuts.
4. Chunk it into salads – I love grapefruit, avocado and spinach (read as ‘whatever leafy green is good in the garden today!’) with a sprinkling of toasted sunflower seeds.
5. Add chunks to an ancient grain dinner – steamed vegetables, raw greens, quinoa/amaranth, chunks of grapefruit, juice of grapefruit, ginger, garlic, turmeric, lemon myrtle.
6. Add chunks to a fruit salad and drizzle the juice over it to keep it fresh. 
7. Drizzle grapefruit juice over an apple to stop it browning, and for extra flavour – great in lunchboxes.
8. Bake a grapefruit poppy seed cake (I’ll post this recipe soon) or add zest to shortbread biscuit mix (yumm)
9. Make grapefruit butter (use same recipe as typical lemon butter but replace the lemon with grapefruit)
10. Grapefruit, honey, cinnamon tea helps to soothe coughs and is a great night-time tea. 
11. Make grapefruit facial toner – squeeze the grapefruit, place into a jar with water, add fresh chopped herbs (select your favourite, eg:lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage, mint…). Let it steep for a couple of hours then splash onto clean skin. So delightful. This will keep in in the fridge for a week or 2.
12. Add the peel to vinegar to make a super citrus cleaner (See a previous post: Grow your own cleaner: http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com/2017/04/grow-your-own-cleaner-diy-citrus-spray.html)

I grow pink grapefruit (just a little pink, not the super red ones)  I know mine are ready to harvest when they blush like this. You can still see the hail damage on the older leaves from the storm at the start of the year. The new leaves are looking good.

Grapefruit is delicious and so good for you

Embrace the bitters

Our diets have been so overridden by sweet things that we have often abandoned bitter things. Bitter however is important. Bitter foods stimulate the liver to produce bile, which is important for good digestion.  One of the ways to improve our diet is to re-cultivate a taste for bitter food. Bitter foods moderate hunger and blood sugar .

Other sources of bitters from your garden:

Where to grow

Preparing the soil