Among all citrus fruits, it is the grapefruit that people neglect most often. The reason is the characteristic bitterness contained in the peel and a thin film inside the fruit. However, an unpleasant aftertaste can be avoided if you learn how to properly clean this fruit. Manually doing this will not be easy. We will tell you how to clean grapefruit correctly in our article. But first, let's focus on how to choose a good fruit.
The beneficial properties of grapefruit
Like other citrus fruits, this fruit is high in vitamins. In 100 ml of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, there is up to 45 mg of vitamin C. It is this amount of ascorbic acid that compensates for the daily requirement for a child aged 5-10 years. In addition, grapefruit contains vitamins A, B1, B2, D, as well as potassium and magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, cobalt, organic acids and pectin. Calorie content of the fetus is 35 kcal.
The characteristic bitterness of the peel and films inside the fruit is due to the content of naringin in them - a vegetable flavonoid. To avoid a bitter aftertaste when eating a fetus, you need to know how to properly clean the grapefruit. In fact, naringin is not a harmful substance at all, but only an unpleasant taste. It is just extracted from the grapefruit peel, and then used in the production of sports nutritional supplements for weight loss.
Useful properties of the fruit:
- normalization of cholesterol and glucose in the blood;
- improving blood circulation and heart function;
- removal of salts and toxins;
- activation of the liver;
- strengthening immunity;
- normalization of the intestines with constipation;
- the fight against insomnia, depression, drowsiness, lethargy, apathy;
- cancer prevention.
How to choose a good grapefruit
When choosing a ripe and juicy fruit in the store, you should pay attention to its color and smell. As a rule, the brighter the grapefruit, the tastier it is. Ripe fruit has a pleasant aroma unlike that which was removed from a tree in an unripe state. It is important to pay attention to this criterion. Also, if you compare the fruits by weight, the ripe fruit will be heavier.
Below are a few effective ways to clean the grapefruit correctly (pictured). Depending on how you plan to use the fruit in the future, one of the proposed options is selected.
How to clean grapefruit
This citrus is widely used in cooking for preparing fruit salads and desserts. Also, grapefruit produces a very delicious tonic juice with its inherent piquant bitterness. But precisely because of the characteristic bitterness, some people refuse to use this fruit and dishes from it.
Below we offer a simple way how to peel a grapefruit so that it does not get bitter, using only a knife and a cutting board. Step by step, this process can be represented in the following sequence:
- The top is cut off from the grapefruit in such a way that the pulp remains untouched.
- With a small and sharp knife, shallow cuts are made from the top down at a distance of 1-2 cm.
- The fingers should hook the peel in the incision. In this way, the entire fetus is cleansed.
- The white film remaining under the skin can be easily removed from top to bottom.
- Grapefruit is divided into slices. Lastly, a thin film is removed from each segment.
How to peel fruit and divide it into slices without films
To implement the following method, you will again need a knife and a cutting board. But in this case, unlike the previous one, a minimum of actions will be performed by hands.
The sequence of manipulations that describe how to properly clean the grapefruit so as not to be bitter is as follows:
- With a sharp knife, the top of the fetus is cut from one side and the other so that the flesh is visible.
- Then, using the same knife, the peel of the fruit is cut off. In the process, you should adhere to the natural shape of the fruit and try to cut off only a thin and bitter film and as little tasty pulp as possible.
- As a result of previous actions, a round-shaped fruit should be completely cleaned from the outside. To use it in the preparation of fruit salads or desserts, it remains only to cut slices. In this case, with a sharp knife, the lobule is separated from the membrane and removed from the fruit.
- In a similar way, the remaining slices are cut.
- From the pulp remaining on the membranes, you can squeeze out delicious juice with spicy bitterness.
How to Peel Grapefruit for Juice
This method is suitable for the case when the appearance of the peeled fruit is not so important. It is used, as a rule, in the case when you need to prepare delicious juice.
The following sequence of actions is followed:
- Without removing the peel, the fruit is cut into two equally sized halves.
- Using a small spoon, the pulp along with the membranes is removed from the peel and laid out in a bowl.
- Using gauze or a sieve, all the juice is squeezed out of the pulp.
How to clean grapefruit without a knife
If you don’t have a knife and a cutting board at hand, this does not mean that you will not be able to get beautiful slices for fruit salad. There is a simple and proven way to clean the grapefruit from the film.
It consists in the following:
- A thick peel is removed from a previously washed fetus.
- Hands peeled fruit is divided into slices.
- A thin film is removed from each slice in turn. To do this, take a lobule and tear the membrane on one side. Then clean the film on the other side and from the bottom. Bones must be removed.
- In a similar way, the remaining slices are cleaned.