Putting the Last Grapefruit on Ice

When Life (or Your Mom) Gives You Grapefruits • No. 4 🍊

Well, fellow travelers, we’ve come to the end of grapefruit season. A humbling journey it’s been indeed.

Should you have missed Week 1, Week 2 or Week 3… please, enjoy.

As I’ve chipped away at these essays, I’ve had a candle burning next to me. Lighting one has been a writing ritual of mine for years now. My favorite comes in a big, heavy glass jar. Dark amber. It’s an Arizona, hand poured brand. The scent…. ‘Nights in the Desert’.

They sell this candle at a local pizzeria/grocery store next to my parents’ house. I worked there when I was sixteen. I still compare every pizza, anywhere in the world, to their sourdough crust. And don’t even get me started on Tammie Coe, the once in-house baker, and her salted chocolate chip cookies. Sure, she and the owner had a mysterious falling out years ago. But the cookies remained the same. Tammie, you’re a hell of a baker. Pair one of those bad boys with an unsweetened iced tea and you’ve got yourself a lights out afternoon.

This candle brings it all back into focus.

‘Nights in the Desert’ smells like Arcadia. Like grapefruit blossoms and hot pavement. The valley turning sherbet pink every evening. Moms driving their oversized SUV’s, trunks full of “just a quick Costco run”, in sleeveless tops with ripped arms. Dad’s squeezing in nine holes before hosing off their patios. Little quail families, skedaddling across the roads, always late to something. And the faint smell of chlorine running through it all.

Maybe that’s why I don’t mind when Barb pushes her backyard grapefruit on me. Sure, at the time, I sigh and roll my eyes. I’ll never understand why it also comes with bags of toilet paper, paper towels or really anything within arm’s reach as she’ll walk me out the door.

But I always make room in my car.

For weeks, the grapefruit sits on my counter. I zest it into cakes and boil it into jams. Its scent drifts through my apartment, carrying a little piece of Arcadia with it.

But, now, as July comes to an end, my kitchen is officially cleared of it. All I have left is this candle. 190 hours of burn time. Enough to get me through to next season.

So it felt right to end this series with a recipe that puts the fruit on ice and lets it shine.

I bring you… my favorite of the bunch…

Grapefruit Granita 🍊❄️

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 6 medium ruby red grapefruits

• ½ cup granulated sugar, or less to taste

Instructions:

1. Halve the grapefruits crosswise, and squeeze juice into a large wide bowl, allowing any pulp to fall in. Use a teaspoon to pluck out any seed or pith in the bowl.

2. Whisk in sugar until completely dissolved. Pour mixture into a low baking dish to a depth of ½-inch. (A 9-by-13-inch baking dish will work.) Place the dish in the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight, until frozen solid. The frozen mixture will look like packed snow.

   

3. Use a fork to smash the frozen mixture into rough chunks and transfer to 6 serving glasses. Place glasses in the freezer until serving time. If desired, add ½ teaspoon orange flower water per glass.

Happy eating!