An embarrasment of grapefruit

These pictures my 3rd harvest of grapefruit from our backyard tree. I anticipate that there will be one more batch this side with a few here and there to give away. I'm not sure what the official word should be for a batch of harvested grapefruit, but, by the time I'm done, you'll see why I'm calling it an embarrassment.


I've lived in this house for over 10 years now. I was a little young and the house was a little big when I bought it. I had roommates through the years, but until HTH and D2 moved in, some of this place just wasn't a priority. The citrus trees in the backyard fell into that category.

2 seasons ago, HTH did some work on the trees. He painted the trunks and bought fertilizer for them. He installed drip irrigation. The tangelo and lemon trees had great years after that, but I have no idea how the grapefruit did. I ate a few and gave a few away, but I didn't really know what else to do with them, so that tree was largely ignored.

I started seeing stories on the wonders of grapefruit juice about 4 months ago. They randomly showed up in blogs, magazines in doctor's offices, and commentary on the radio. So, I decided to juice the grapefruits and freeze the juice in ice trays, just like I do with the lemons. This involved finding a juicer that would work with my grapefruit (see the picture at the left!) and, of course, my fruitpicker pictured in the "Rough Day" post. I prepared for the chore ahead with the thought that dropping grapefruit ice cubes into my water bottle all summer long would be worth the effort.

Oddly enough, I found that I don't really need to think about the end result much. I just thoroughly enjoy the process. I savor the the smell of the leaves. I like hunting through the shaggy green for fruit. I appreciate the ability to feel ripe grapefruit - a gift I can only think that came from PawPaw E's backyard - and determine which ones should wait another week. I smile when the smell of fresh grapefruit permeates the house. I like it all so much that I don't mind the scratches on my hands (maybe I should consider gloves) or the sticky mess on the counters when I'm done juicing all of these.

So, I neglected the tree and ignored the fruit for years because I didn't really want to deal with it. I thought it would be just another chore to add to my list. Just one more thing to worry about. Silly girl! If I had only tried this sooner, I could have enjoyed many summers of icy cold grapefruit juice and winters of picking fruit. What an embarrassment of grapefruit!