Take your pick choosing the sweet or the sour grapefruit.
- Grapefruit is a fruit that was created through cross breeding of the sweet orange and pomelo fruits, both of which are native to Asia.
- The scientific name of a grapefruit is Citrus x paradisi, and it is from the family Rutaceae, the family of citrus.
- Grapefruit are typically a roundish shape and grow to sizes of 10 to 15 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) in diameter, while the tree they grow on has an average height of 5 to 6 metres (16 to 20 feet).
- The colour of grapefruit skin is usually yellow, orange or a pink-yellow, while the flesh is coloured white, pink, red, yellow or orange.
- Grapefruit grow on trees in bunches, comparable to those of grapes, hence the fruit’s common name.
Grapefruit
Image courtesy of isox4/Flickr
- China produced the greatest amount of grapefruit in the world in 2012, with roughly 3,800,000 tonnes (4,200,000 tons) of the world’s total of just over 8,040,000 tonnes (8,860,000 tons).
- Generally grapefruit is eaten raw, either without additions or added to desserts for flavour, although it can be cooked to reduce its sourness, and the fruit can also be juiced.
- It is thought that grapefruit were crossbred through natural pollination and were discovered on the island of Barbados in the Lesser Antilles in the Carribbean, and were later classified scientifically around 1830.
- Grapefruit have a strange flavour, a combination of both sour and sweet, the sweetness varying depending on the variety, and the fruit is also quite juicy.
- Grapefruit is extremely high in vitamin C, is a very good source of vitamin A as well as a good source of fibre, and it contains many other vitamins and minerals.