01/26/09 Not Your Grandparents Grapefruit

Not Your Grandparents Grapefruit. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Growing up in the 50's and 60's one of the staple my grandparents enjoyed for breakfast was half of a grapefruit. According to Eleisha Ensign, Executive Director of the TexaCitrus Marketing Board, the newest grapefruit isn't what they ate. ENSIGN: What's really unique about Texas citrus is everyone has heard of the Ruby Red grapefruit. The actual first Ruby Red was found in Texas back in the 1920's. Well today we grow a variety of grapefruit called the RioStar and it's actually 10 times redder than that first Ruby Red and the redder it is, the sweeter it is so it's really not a tart bitter fruit anymore. It's a very sweet fruit. We used to smother the grapefruit in sugar to offset that tart taste. Ensign says the picking begins in October. ENSIGN: Really the peak of our season is December, January and February and it will usually last into May. When you purchase it at the grocery store you can keep it for about 2 weeks on your tabletop and about 6 weeks in your refrigerator. The cooler season helps the fruit to sweeten up. Ensign says they are trying to get people to think outside the box when it comes to enjoying grapefruit. ENSIGN: Since our grapefruit is so sweet you can use it not only in salads which is a little traditional but also in desserts and entrees. We're doing a recipe challenge asking cooks at home to send in their recipes with our grapefruit and the website is riostarchallenge.com and there's $5000 in prize money up for grabs. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.