Making a Meal of Grapefruit.

Yesterday’s post, which ended with a fine grapefruit pie, made me realise that during the almost ten years of this blog, I have not given this fruit its fair share of the limelight. This is all the more surprising, as it is quite obvious that an entire meal could be built up around this bitter-sweet-sour citrus. If you are passionate about this fruit, may I give you a complete meal’s worth?

Grapefruit Soup.

Ingredients: 1 ½ pint white stock, 3 large grapefruit, 1 small onion, 1 blade of mace, 1 clove, 1 teaspoonful cornflour, a pinch of sugar and one of salt. Skin and slice or scoop out the pulp of the grapefruit into a saucepan with the mace, sugar, and salt. Pour over the stock and simmer for an hour. Mix cornflour to a smooth paste with cold water. Add to the soup and stir until boiling. Boil for five minutes and strain before serving.

The West Australian (Perth, West Australia) 6 June 1935

Herrings Soused in Juice.

Well clean sufficient herrings or similar fish, cutting off heads and tails. Split open and, after cleaning inside, dry and wipe with a slice of raw onion. Sprinkle a little cayenne inside and arrange in a buttered baking dish. Dust with red pepper and cover with grapefruit juice. Cover dish and bake for 30 minutes.

If preferred the herrings can be filleted and rolled before being baked in the fruit juice.

The West Australian (Perth, West Australia) 6 June 1935

Grapefruit Chutney.

Grapefruit chutney is something different and distinctive in the way of preserves. To make it one requires 4 grapefruit, 1 lb. hard onions, 1 pint vinegar, 1 ½ teaspoonfuls ground ginger, ¼ lb. seedless raisins, 1 ½ lb. Demerara sugar, 1 ½ oz. salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper, 1 teaspoonful mustard.

Wipe the grapefruit, slice thinly, and remove pips. Chop the onions finely, put into a dish, sprinkle with salt, and leave for 24 hours. Put into a pan and add the other ingredients. Bring slowly to boiling point, then simmer for one hour. Put into jars, and cover when cold.

The West Australian (Perth, West Australia) 6 June 1935

Stuffed Grapefruit.

Cut a slice off the top of each grapefruit and scoop out all the inside. Remove pith and pips from this, cut up in small pieces, mix with some chopped cauliflower (cooked) cooked green peas, diced celery and walnut pieces. Mix well with some mayonnaise. Fill the grapefruit cases with the mixture and surround finely chopped lettuce.

The North Western Courier (Narrabri, NSW) 28 August 1939

Grapefruit Tapioca.

Two and a half cups water, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teacup sugar, 1 cup grapefruit juice, juice of a lemon, ¾ cup tapioca. Boil water, salt and sugar until the sugar is dissolved, then stir in washed tapioca and cook slowly until clear. Then add grapefruit juice and lemon juice and cook for five minutes longer. Serve with whipped cream, to which two table, spoons of grapefruit juice have been added. May be served hot or cold.

The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW) 10 October, 1939

Baked Grapefruit Roll.

Take I ½ cup S.R. flour, 2 grapefruit, salt, 4 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons sugar, milk to mix, cinnamon, ½ pint syrup. Sift flour with pinch of salt, rub in 2 tablespoons butter and mix into pastry-like dough with milk. Roll out into oblong shape about ½  inch thick and spread with remainder of butter creamed with the sugar. Peel grapefruit, cut into slices, put it on top of butter and sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon and the grated rind of 1 grapefruit. Roll up, place in a piedish, pour hot syrup ( ¼ lb.

sugar to 1 cup water) over the roll and bake ¾  hour in hot oven.

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA) 6 August 1942

Grapefruit Champagne.

4 medium grapefruit

2 pints water

2 lb. sugar

Slice grapefruit, place in large basin, add the water. Cover basin with large inverted plate, allow to stand ten days. Add sugar at the end of this time and stir each day for eight days. Strain, reserving liquid; discard grapefruit. Return liquid to large basin, skim well. Allow to stand three days, skimming daily.

Strain through several thicknesses of fine muslin. Bottle into clean, dry, sterilised bottles, cork securely, label, and date.

Store 3 weeks before using.

Makes approximately 4 pints.

The Australian Women’s Weekly, 29 April 1970