So I am a big fan of grapefruit amongst other fruits.  They seem to have very few uses.  There’s juice and there’s split it in half and sprinkle it with sugar or salt.  There are like a thousand things you can make out of strawberries.  What happened to the grapefruit?  I realize its a New World fruit but that still leaves a period of 500 or so years in which to write recipes.  I thought long and hard about what would be a good pairing for grapefruit.  I came up with honey.  It seemed better than vanilla and more special than sweetened cream.  On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 batch of red grapefruit jam

Red grapefruit jam

• 1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 2/3 cups skim milk
• 3/4 cup honey

Instructions:

1. Make red grapefruit jam according to recipe in link above.
2. Put in refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. Pour milk and honey into medium saucepan.
4. Dissolve honey.
5. Remove from heat.
6. Add cream.
7. Stir well.
8. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
9. After cooling make cream, milk, and honey mixture in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
10. Add red grapefruit jam and stir in with a spatula.
11. Either serve soft now or package and place in freezer to serve harder later.

 

 

This recipe took two tries to get.  I bought a candy thermometer to be more precise in my candy making.  However the only thing I ever made that was candy with a candy thermometer was peanut brittle.  This was as a kid as my contribution to the family Christmas goodies.  I knew I didn’t want the sugar to go to hard crack, which is used for peanut brittle.   My first guess was to go to hard ball.  This made a descent treat or candy, but the glue was hard on the teeth in my opinion.  I was the child who dissolved my entire life saver, even when it became sharp and pointy and you keep poking yourself in the side of the mouth.  Anyways, I  guessed.  There’s no handbook when what your doing is more along the lines of writing the book.  It still might not be what others want to read, but I am writing here, not reading like the majority of food preparation.  Anyways fail, so what do you do?  You guess again.  You know you were too hot, so that narrows it down a little.  So hard ball was 245 degrees Fahrenheit, I was thinking 230 but based on the look of the candy in the pan and on the spatula I stopped at 220.  Anyways this derivation was one of the things that entertained me this weekend.  On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Karo syrup
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 5 limes
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 cup unsalted peanuts
• 10 cups cereal, I used half rice Chex half corn Chex
• 1/2 cups dried fruit, I used craisins, apples, pineapples, and apricots

Instructions:

1. Place blueberries and juice of 5 limes in blender.
2. Blend until incorporated.
3. Pour into medium saucepan.
4. Add butter.
5. Bring to a boil melting and stirring in butter.
6. Add sugar and Karo syrup.
7. Stirring regularly bring mixture to 220 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Remove from heat allow to cool for 5 minutes.
9. While cooling mix cereal, nuts, and fruit in large bowl, leaving some room for mixing.
10. Pour sugar mixture over cereal, nuts, and fruit.
11. Mix to coat all material as evenly as possible.
12. Pour onto large sheet pan.
13. Spread evenly on pan.
14. Allow to cool.
15. Cut and serve.

Here’s one I wonder why I’ve never seen before.  Grapefruit juice and grapefruits are traditional breakfast food, so why not make a jam out of them.  In terms of prep time grapefruits take more human manipulation than the average fruit, but typically I would think if something is easy to make it tastes easy as well.  Anyways this is more work than peaches or strawberries, but it really does make excellent jam.  Plus it had the added payoff today when I ate grapefruit jam on homemade english muffins that I felt like a truly eclectic person.  On to the recipe.  Note it’s jam so it shouldn’t be too complicated.

Ingredients:

• 4 regular sized red grapefruit
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar

Instructions:

1.  Peel the grapefruit.  Take the pulpy portion out of the individual sections, avoiding as much pith as possible.
2. Place prepared grapefruit, water, and sugar in medium saucepan.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat.  I used 5 1/2 out of 9 on an electric stove.
4. Stir occasionally until thickened.  I set a timer for 17 minutes and did something else until the timer went off.  Four to five iterations of the 17 minute timer and the recipe needed more attention.
5. Decrease heat and stir more often.  I use one of those high heat spatula spoons made out of rubber.  You will know you are close when you can see the bottom of your pan in the trail of your stirrer.
6. Continue to heat and stir for another 5-10 minutes more based on how congealed you want the final product.
7. Take off heat, pour into jelly jar, and preserve in your favorite manner.  I used a ball jar and lid, pouring the jam in when it was hot.  It sealed and according to the packaging should be good for 18 months.