Florida Grapefruit Peel

Sporting grapefruit’s characteristic duality of flavor, our aromatic Florida Grapefruit Peel is deep and robust, and citrus-bright. It has a bitter, mouth-puckering opening and a sweet, mild finish. This product is made primarily from the oil-rich, colorful part of the peel; when fresh, grapefruit peel contains approximately 2% essential oils by weight. These oils are the flavor drivers in grapefruit peel and concentrate during dehydration. Our Florida Grapefruit Peel may contain up to 2.5% pith, the bitter white part of the peel.

Citrus originated in the tropical regions of Asia; the theory goes that 5 or 6 million years ago, one ancestral line split into three main descendant lines. There was the citron, the mandarin, and the pomelo. Citrus plants will cross-pollinate and create hybrid lines fairly easily when they are planted near one another; somewhere in time a pomelo hybridized with a mandarin to create a sweet orange. And further down the line, that sweet orange crossed again with a pomelo to create the grapefruit—but it didn’t do this until the 1600s, in Barbados, halfway around the world from citrus’s origin point. They developed willy-nilly around the island, planted by Europeans who kept dreadfully poor records of what citrus was planted, where. So while we know what plants sired a grapefruit and when it emerged on the culinary scene, who brought the parent plants to Barbados and when will most likely remain a mystery.

Tips From Our Kitchen

Use Florida Grapefruit Peel to add a bitter citrus twist to fresh berry fillings, creamy frostings and dried fruit compotes and custards. Add extra depth to marmalade or blackberry jam. Rehydrate and whip into the meringue for a fresh twist on a pavlova. Macerate with strawberries and a pinch of black pepper for an adult take on strawberry shortcake. This can be a way to lighten up a stir-fry. Rehydrate and chop into cilantro and garlic for a fresh gremolata garnish. Use in beer brewing to flavor IPAs, saisons, and shandies. Infuse into vodka with dehydrated lime peel for a terrific summer cocktail starter.

Because of its high oil content, we recommend that you store your Florida Grapefruit Peel in glass jars.

To rehydrate, add three parts water to one part peel and let stand for 15 minutes. When using in its dehydrated form, use 1/3 of the amount of fresh grapefruit peel that the recipe calls for. To get even more flavor during rehydration replace some of the water with real grapefruit juice.

Our Dried Grapefruit Peel comes from grapefruits that are grown in the United States.

This product is certified kosher.

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