Making grapefruit juice can be a fun activity for some people, challenging for others, and walking in the park for the professionals. But just what is grapefruit, and why would we want to use them to make juice?
These questions lead us to want to know more about grapefruit, so here we go!
We will learn how to make grapefruit juice using different grapefruits, using several methods, and suggested recipes.
Let’s Delve into Knowing More About Grapefruits
If we are going to use grapefruits to make juice, we should know something about it.
This tropical citrus is renowned for its tangy taste, a mixture of sour and sweet is highly nutritious, has antioxidants and fiber, and is one of the healthiest citruses we can eat or drink.
Let’s have a further look at some of the nutrition value and benefits of grapefruit.
Nutrition Value and Benefits of Grapefruit
Grapefruit is high in nutrients such as Vitamin A and C, Potassium, Magnesium, Fiber, and is low in calories, and since grapefruit is packed with vitamins and minerals that play a role in preventing infections, it may benefit our immune systems.
When we want to control our appetite, we can consume grapefruits since it has a lot of fiber to encourage fullness of our stomachs, and the fiber and water content which makes us feel full will assist with a weight loss journey
Regular consumption of grapefruit may help to reduce insulin resistance and diabetes, and the nutrients and antioxidants in grapefruit help to protect the heart by regulating blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Grapefruit may help to prevent developing chronic conditions like cancer and heart disease, and the citric acid in this fruit may also help to avoid developing kidney stones.
Grapefruits’ high water content will help to keep us hydrated and is a healthy fruit that is easy to add to our diet. Read more info here.
Types of Grapefruit
Grapefruit is a cross between a sweet orange and a pomelo, comes in different color flesh that ranges from white to pink to red, and the color of the skin ranges from green to yellow.
Here are the types of grapefruits that we will commonly come across:
Grapefruits are known mostly for the color of their flesh.
Let’s talk about the colors.
Pink Grapefruit
The pink color grapefruit is usually the better tasting one since they balance sweetness and tartness to its taste. The flesh is very juicy, and it is not as sour as the other color grapefruits.
Red Grapefruit
This grapefruit is the sweetest type, and it is thought that the redder the flesh, the sweeter the juice.
Yellow or White Grapefruit
These have a creamy or yellow pulp, light yellow skin, are usually the sourest and least sweet of the fruits.
Which Grapefruits Are Better For Juicing
Grapefruit has a wide variety, and knowing them will help us choose the better ones for juicing.
Duncan Grapefruit
Has a light yellow peel, many seeds, and yellow-white juicy flesh that makes it mostly grown for juicing, and they are large in size.
Foster Grapefruit
Has yellow skin with a pink blush, many seeds, and juicy pink flesh.
Star Ruby Grapefruit
This one has a deliciously sweet taste, has very deep red pulp, the skin is bright yellow, the flesh rarely has seeds in it, and its tartness is similar to all grapefruits.
Ruby Red Grapefruit
Has orange skin with a hint of red blush, juicy pink flesh with a balance of sweetness and slight tartness, and is the most popular type of pink grapefruit.
Flame Grapefruit
Has a deep pink-red color with no seeds, smooth yellow color skin with hints of pink, and a good flavor of sweet and sour.
Lavender Gem Grapefruit
Cross between a grapefruit and a tangelo, looks like a mini grapefruit, has orange skin, light pink flesh, and very juicy.
White Marsh Grapefruit
Has yellow skin and pale yellow flesh, seedless with a rich sweet flavor, and juicy pulp.
Red Blush Grapefruit
Very sweet to the taste, seedless, and has pale reddish-pink pulp.
Oro Blanco Grapefruit
Sweet, juicy, yellow-white color grapefruit, is not bitter and bright yellow skin with green hints.
Honey Gold Grapefruit
Large, juicy, seedless, thick yellowish-green skin, sweet to the taste, no bitterness, low acidity.
Pomelo Grapefruit
It is the least favored for juicing because of its thick, bitter pith.
How to Make Grapefruit Juice Using a Hand, Blender, and Juicer?
Now that we know about grapefruit, its types, and benefits, let us talk about making juice with this nutritious fruit.
There are a few options as to the methods used for making grapefruit juice, and we will be exploring using our hand, using a blender, or using a juicer to make this juice.
Whichever way we choose to do juicing is just fine since all the methods will bring us to our goal of making grapefruit juice.
Grapefruit juice is excellent for having by itself or mixing with other products; we will also explore this, and a step by step guide will help us along the way to making us master the art involved in the process.
1. Making Grapefruit Juice Using Our Hand
When we say hand, we don’t mean your physical hand with ten fingers. It means using a hand-held device. I bet that one got you!!!
You can choose the hand juicers from various juicers available on the market; while selecting a juicer, we should remember to read the reviews and choose the one that suits us best.
While making a fresh glass or few of grapefruit juice, we should:
- Clean your hand juicer or juice press properly
- Gather your utensils such as a juice pitcher, different grades of a strainer, a spoon, knife, and cutting board
- Wash your hands and grapefruit
- Cut grapefruits into two halves
- Place one half over the juicer or citrus press and gently press down to release all the juice
- Place the strainer over the pitcher to get out the liquid leaving the pulp behind
For those of us who like the sweet-tangy refreshing taste, we can pour some of the freshly made grapefruit juice in a glass over some cracked ice, enjoy it, and pour what’s left in the pitcher in an air-tight container.
Place it in the refrigerator; it will be suitable for drinking within three days.
2. Making Grapefruit Juice Using a Blender
With hands to your jaws and wide-open eyes, you ask the question, “A blender?”
I will answer with a resounding “Yes!” A blender can make grapefruit juice; we should know how to do it.
We start the ball-a-rolling by:
- Ensuring the blender and its moving parts are clean
- Cleaning the work area and utensils
- Washing our hands and grapefruits
- Peeling the grapefruits and completely removing the white lining since this may give a bitter taste
- We then cut the grapefruits into small size and remove the seeds if we want to
- Placing them in the blender and choose the speed that best works for us
- On completion of blending, we pour the juice through a strainer or tea cloth to separate the pulp from the juice
We enjoy the juice at the consistency we want and store the leftover in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
3. Making Grapefruit Juice Using a Juicer
This method must be by far the easiest of the three methods.
Juicers vary in size, functions, availability, prices, and knowing which one is best for us is left to the recommendations, reading reviews of the ones we like, and the most cost-effective one.
- Ensure that the juicer and utensils are clean
- Sanitize the work area
- Wash our hands and grapefruits
- Peel the grapefruits and remove the white outer covering
- Depending on the size of the juicer, we can place a whole grapefruit in the chute or cut into smaller sizes
- Wait and let the juicer do its juicing
- When the process is complete, we use a strainer to get the juice to the thickness that we desire
We store the unused portion of the juice in a tightly closed container to maintain its freshness.
| Method | Time-efficient | Yield More Juice |
|---|---|---|
| Hand | No | No |
| Blender | Yes | Yes |
| Juicer | Too much | Too much |
With all of the options presented, which way do we think is the best way to make grapefruit juice?
Is it using a hand-held juicer, a blender, or an electric juicer?
Perhaps we may even be asking if grapefruit juice would taste better using a hand juicer, a blender, or the juicer. Well, your choice is as good as mine.
We certainly know that we can make grapefruit juice taste better, and we will do this by adding it to other fruits and juices.
Grapefruit Juice Recipes
For some of us, we may think that making grapefruit juice by itself is just a bland idea and that we would want to add variety and taste to our grapefruit juice.
We should know that we can get creative and put some pep in our steps by adding other juice items to know which ones we enjoy best.
Let us all try this one. It will have us all salivating and wanting more.
Grapefruit Milk Strawberry Smoothie Splash
Licking lips already, I see.
Ingredients:
- 4 Ruby Red Grapefruits
- Six large strawberries
- 16 ounces of almond milk of your choice
- 1 cup of cracked ice
Procedure:
- Peel the grapefruit and remove the white outer coating
- Wash the strawberries, and we may also cut them in two
- Place the grapefruit in the blender and allow it to remove the juice
- Pour the juice through a strainer that is big enough for some of the pulp to pass through it (the aim is to get the juice with a moderate pulpy texture)
- Return the pulpy grapefruit juice to the blender, add strawberries, cracked ice, and milk to the blender, and whip away
- Blend to a smooth consistency
- Pour in a glass, and let’s enjoy your smoothie
This recipe will give us five to six 8oz glasses of smoothie splash.
Grapefruit, Carrot Beet Root Juice
We can call this one the immune system builder juicy treat.
Ingredients:
- Four large grapefruits of your choice
- Two large carrots
- One large beet
- 1 ounce of ginger
- One small lemon
Instructions:
- Wash and peel the grapefruit while carefully removing the white membrane
- Wash, peel, and cut the carrots in manageable sizes
- Wash, peel and cut the beetroot into two halves
- Wash and peel the lemon, remove the seeds and cut into two
- Combine all ingredients and place them in the juicer
- Use a wide hole strainer to strain the juice and then restrain it with a finer grade strainer
- Pour the juice over cracked ice, and we will serve it up and enjoy a little ourselves
This recipe will give us two to three 8oz glasses of juice.
We can also consider making more of this juice and inviting friends for a sip, admitting that it is a favorite recipe, and prompt them to go ahead and try it.
Grapefruit, carrot, and beetroot work well together because of their nutrition value. These fruits are rich in fiber, antioxidants, Vitamin C, and other nutrients with added benefits such as increased blood flow. If you are looking for more recipes you can find them here.
Final Thoughts
Making grapefruit juice is doing it for the love of it and not for the likes.
Keep in mind that our homemade grapefruit juice has no preservatives, and we should exercise due care by storing it and placing it in our refrigerators. Remember that putting a punch in our grapefruit juice means we may have to add other ingredients and fruits to remove the bitter taste or make it taste differently.
Don’t just think that you can’t make grapefruit juice, but let us all get excited about it, even make a mess of our kitchens, and use whether the blender, juicer, or hand juicer to make the best grapefruit juice we’ve ever tasted.
Whose grapefruit juice will taste better and be more nutritious?
Will it be the store-bought grapefruit juice or homemade grapefruit juice? The weighing scale is now in our hands, and the answer lies in the option we choose.
Let’s raise those glasses of grapefruit juices and say, “Cheers.”