Grapefruit, June 23rd, 2008

Brand: Sundance Natural Foods
Variety: Deep Red (possibly a kind of Star Ruby)
Growth location: California
Bought in: Weaver Street Market

Finally, a nice grapefruit from this bunch I bought at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro. On the whole, these Sundance Deep Reds have been quite sour and little else. While that does make them some of the most consistent grapefruits I've ever eaten, they have not been that enjoyable.

This grapefruit separated itself from its brothers in flavor. Like all the other Sundance Deep Reds, it failed to hold up in any semblance of slices, instead demanding to be eaten in chunks or single granules left on my fingers, and with plenty of exposed flesh, but it had a fine, subtle, even flavor. The fruit maintained a subdued balance of light sweetness and vague tart for the full duration of being eaten. A fine job and a welcome change to the weeks' grapefruits.

Grade: B

I must point out that one from this batch, eaten on Saturday, June 21st, had beautiful skin--unique white mottling and otherwise a rich, attractive tone. Behold:

Grapefruit, June 4th, 2008

Brand: Rainbow Valley Orchards
Variety: Star Ruby
Growth location: Rainbow, California
Bought in: Trader Joe's

I know a man who says he hates grapefruits. He says they taste like "someone threw up on an orange." I didn't quite understand what he meant when he said it. Now I do.

I've got nothing against sour grapefruits, but this was shockingly sour in comparison to many of the grapefruits I've been eating. I got a feeling of citric acid overload on my tongue upon completing the fruit. Of course, shocking surprise is, to me, a positive fruit experience. A few slices of this one were lacking the sourness and ended up being neutral in flavor, which were also a pleasant surprise.

Sounds good, right? Well, no. Remember the vomit part?

The enjoyability of the majority of the fruit was overridden by that darned earthiness that plagues so many grapefruits. The combination of intense sour and earthiness added up to quite a unique, but ultimately unpleasant, grapefruit. Indeed, I saw in this fruit how someone could interpret a grapefruit to taste like an orange, plus vomit.

Rating: D-