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All the reasons to get excited about grapefruit

Add a little sweet to your sour with recipes that honour the glory that is grapefruit.

Chocolate cake with ruby grapefruit glaze Source: Brett Stevensv

Understandably there are many out there who are still scarred by their ill-advised adolescent attempt at the dreaded

. A grapefruit eaten with every meal was supposed to magically burn off fat. Instead, it simply magically burned away the will to live.

Three grapefruit a day for 10 days equals... way too many grapefruit.

The long, strange history of dieting fads

Slow your breathing. Everything is okay. We're not making you go back there. Instead, we'd like to re-introduce you to this most marvellous fruit. We promise you won't have to eat it three times a day.

Instead, you get to indulge your inner foodie while you reap grapefruit's many benefits. These include being sky-high in vitamins C and A, plus good sources of fibre, carbohydrates, antioxidants, potassium, thiamine, folate and magnesium. There's even a little added protein.

A lot to get excited about there. Here's how to wrap that excitement up and munch on it with glee.

Simple pleasures

A generous splash of Cointreau makes grapefruit marmalade *especially* good with cheese. Or eaten by the spoonful from the jar. Whichever suits. Source: Farah Celjo

Let's start at the very beginning. With an unadulterated

ruby grapefruit marmalade

that will send a little tangy sunshine your way every time you sit down to breakfast. It's also a superb addition to a cheese platter.

Pink lady smoothie

All the flavours

Beef carpaccio with cucumber, grapefruit and green papaya

The added grapefruit is responsible for at least half of the flavour of this salad. Source: Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia

If it's sweet, sharp, crunchy, zesty, chilli and sour you're after, munch on this

beef carpaccio

. Punchy grapefruit is contributing most of those flavours, of course.

So much bitter

Caramelised grapefruit, blue cheese, rocket and watercress

Grapefruit channels its inner pineapple in this pretty salad. Source: Danielle Abou Karam

Different ingredients will bring out either the sweet, sour or bitter notes in grapefruit. In

Adam Liaw's salad

, the focus is on the bitter, achieved by adding peppery blue cheese, rocket and watercress. It's not all sharp notes, however. Caramelising the grapefruit adds plenty of sweetness, too.

Stickybeak

The citrus sauce would also be magical stir-fried with crisp green vegetables like beans, snow peas and a big helping of sum choy. Source: Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia

Combining your beloved grapefruit with other citrus creates magic to pour over simply cooked fish. In

this recipe

, mahi mahi is used as it's a particularly creamy fish that pairs so well with the sticky citrus sauce.

Seared scallop, grapefruit and fennel salad

Always agrio

Ecuadorian slow-roasted pork with agrio sauce and salad

A marinade made with grapefruit adds meat-tenderising acid to whip pork into melting submission. Source: Chris Middleton

The Spanish word agrio translates as sour, tart and acidic. So, pretty much your average grapefruit without its sweet side. It more than holds its own with other strong flavours in

this slow-cooked pork and salad dish

Salad days

This sweet-and-savoury, kaleidoscopic salad bursts with the tangy flavours and brightness of citrus. Source: Justine's Flavours of Fuji

Salad works year round when grapefruit gets involved. On a bright winter's day, there's nothing finer than a dish like this

citrus and avo salad

. Grapefruit mingles with blood orange, orange, mandarin and yuzu to make a bright and cheery seasonal dish.

Grapefruit and mung bean noodle salad

Sorbet refresh

Orange, pink grapefruit and Aperol sorbet (sorbetto all’arancia, pompelmo rosa e aperol)

Sorbetto all’arancia, pompelmo rosa e Aperol is much simpler to make than pronounce. Source: Paola Bacchia

Another fine way to enjoy grapefruit is in any kind of sorbet form.

This especially refreshing version

whizzes pink grapefruit and orange juice with Aperol for an extra kick.

Well seasoned

Fair enough, it does look a bit like this tart is sticking its tongue out at you. But what a luscious grapefruity tongue it is! Source: David Loftus

Grapefruit goes especially well with pepper. No, really. Try grinding some fresh pepper onto a grapefruit half and you'll soon see what we mean. Or you could just make a batch of these

grapefruit and pepper meringue tartlets

and thank us later.

Ruby grapefruit tea cake

Sweet stop

The pink grapefruit in this pavlova has a lovely bitter flavour that cuts through the sweetness of the meringue. Source: Alan Benson

If you're making something super sweet (like, say, a

layered Turkish delight pavlova

), bitter grapefruit keeps things from tipping too far into 'saccharine' territory. Instead, you end up with a balanced dessert that feels surprisingly light.

Darkly bright

Behold the ultimate grapefruit-hater converter! Source: Brett Stevensv

A tangy-sweet ruby grapefruit glaze cuts through a

rich, dark chocolate cake

to win over even the most staunch grapefruit-hater. Especially when candied grapefruit look so enticingly pretty on top!

Drink up

Hello beautiful weekend, we've been expecting you! Source: SBS Food

Who needs tonic or even gin when you've got a refreshing level of tang coming from

rum and ruby red grapefruit juice

? Add some pepper for that perfect balance of flavours we discussed at length above...

Bitter sweet memories

Marron with grapefruit dressing

Cucumber-infused gin and grapefruit spritzer

Salad of beetroot-cured trout, grapefruit, goat’s curd and salmon roe

Smashed green olive and ruby grapefruit salad

Grapefruit posset

Seared yellowfin tuna with sweet pork crackling, ruby red grapefruit and black pepper caramel

Pink grapefruit, shaved fennel and avocado salad

Ruby grapefruit and makrut lime-ade

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SBS Food is a 24/7 foodie channel for all Australians, with a focus on simple, authentic and everyday food inspiration from cultures everywhere. NSW stream only.

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3 min read

Published 10 June 2021 1:05pm

Updated 10 June 2021 2:12pm

By SBS Food bite-sized

Source: SBS

All the reasons to get excited about grapefruit