Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Winter Citrus: Cocktail Grapefruit

Winter Citrus: Cocktail Grapefruit

Have you ever seen a cocktail grapefruit? No? Neither had we, until we saw this sign at Trader Joe's last week.

A cocktail grapefruit, as it turns out, is no grapefruit at all. It only looks like one. It's a little smaller than some grapefruit, though, as you can see from the photo above. (My hands are pretty small.)

The cocktail grapefruit is actually a blend of a mandarin and a pummelo (or pomelo). The pomelo side presumably gives it that yellow and green color and thick skin, while the mandarin side of its heritage makes it much sweeter than a grapefruit.

We split ours open to see what it looked like. It was bright yellow inside, with two or three large seeds in each segment. It was deliciously juicy; we dripped juice all over the kitchen just trying to peel the thing. The taste was very refreshing, too; it had the tart brightness of grapefruit but none of the sourness. It was sweet, bright, and very juicy.

We enjoyed this one a lot. Have you ever tried it?

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (8)

Since the grapefruit is itself believed to be a hybrid of a pomelo and an orange, calling this new fruit a grapefruit might not be so inaccurate.

posted by benfest on January 28th 2009 at 5:16pm
view benfest's profile

I bought one of these for the first time the other day too. It was called "Melissa's cocktail grapefruit." It worked very well with fresh fennel and pan grilled sole. It was very refreshing and sweet. It also had a lot of seeds.

posted by trout on January 28th 2009 at 5:19pm
view trout's profile

Yes! It worked fabulously in place of much more sophisticated, yet impossible to locate, Bergamot and made a fabulous cocktail:
-Cocktail grapefruit juice
-Simple syrup muddled with fresh sage
-Vodka

As an aside, can anyone help me get my hands on some fresh bergamot?

Thanks!

posted by AthinaBianca on January 28th 2009 at 6:12pm
view AthinaBianca's profile

Has anyone spotted these in San Francisco?

posted by laila on January 28th 2009 at 6:37pm
view laila's profile

They're tasty - very sweet and not very grapefruit-like except in their appearance. Millions of seeds, though, which make eating with a grapefruit spoon a bit challenging.

posted by Andy M. on January 28th 2009 at 7:27pm
view Andy M.'s profile

On ths subject of grapefruit hybreds, my mother gave me an orange the other day and said it was the best she had ever tasted. I opened it up and it was pink on the inside. Has anyone else ever heard of a Cara Cara Organge? It's orange on the outside, but looks like a mini grapefruit on the inside. The scent was of an orange but the taste was sweeter, less acidic, but reminded me of a very mild grapefruit.

posted by Carrie too on January 29th 2009 at 10:09am
view Carrie too's profile

This might be nitpicky of me, but you guys have absolutely heard of cocktail grapefruits before. I know, because I heard of them from you guys last year!

posted by Schwartz on January 29th 2009 at 10:19am
view Schwartz's profile

Bi-Rite in SF has these.

posted by MollyMayhem on February 3rd 2009 at 3:08pm
view MollyMayhem's profile