Interesting Facts About Grapefruits

There are so many interesting facts about grapefruits, from their discovery in Barbados to their eventual commercialization that set them atop the charts of fruit production throughout the world. The grapefruit started as a hybrid discovery and grew to become a breakfast favorite and a health food staple. Add this to my Recipe Box.

History

The grapefruit's first mention was in 1750 by Griffith Hughes, a clergyman and naturalist who referred to the fruit as the "forbidden fruit of Barbados." A few years later, Captain Shaddock brought with him to Jamaica the seeds of the Indonesian pummelo fruit. Here it is believed that the cross breeding of the Jamaican sweet orange and the Indonesian pummelo fruit spawned the grapefruit. Originally called the shaddock fruit after its creator, the fruits were smaller than today's grapefruit. Eventually, grapefruits got a name change, due to their resemblance to grapes, as they grew in small clusters in their trees. Count Odette Phillipe then brought grapefruits to the Americas in 1823 from the nearby Bahama Islands. Grapefruits were traditionally grown in the United States as ornamental fruit and did not become commercially popular until the 1929 patent of the Ruby Red grapefruit. Today the grapefruit is still known as one of the seven wonders of Barbados.

Identification

Grapefruits come in a variety of sizes, bitterness or sweetness, and even colors. Depending on the variety, grapefruits come with red, pink, white or a golden colored pulp. Each medium grapefruit has about 10 to 12 slices and can be peeled and eaten just like an orange. The grapefruit's cousin, the pummelo, is the largest variety of citrus fruit and is also called Chinese grapefruit. It is used during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations because it resembles the full moon.

Benefits

Grapefruits are an excellent source of vitamin C, as well as a large percentage of vitamin A, as well as vitamin B6, niacin, thiamin, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Grapefruits are 75 percent juice, one medium grapefruit providing a 2/3 cup of freshly squeezed juice. If refrigerated in an airtight container, grapefruits retain 98 percent of their vitamin C count for an entire week. Used for their invigorating scent, grapefruits are also popular in spa treatments and aromatherapy. Used sometimes to eliminate constipation, grapefruits have many medicinal purposes, such as treatment of urinary tract problems, decreasing insomnia and many more health problems.

Warning

Unfortunately, despite their great benefits, grapefruits do interact with certain drugs. Grapefruits were among the first documented fruit to interfere with etoposide, a drug given to chemotherapy patients, cholesterol lowering drugs, such as lovastatin, and cyclosporine, a drug prescribed to transplant patients to lower the chances of organ rejection.

Geography

Typical grapefruit trees can produce 1300 to 1500 pounds of fruit a year. Florida and Arizona grapefruit is available all year long, with Florida being the largest producer of grapefruit in the entire world. There are roughly 5,061,023 tons of grapefruit produced every year, with the United States producing 1,580,000. China is the next largest producer with 547,000 tons reported.