Grapefruit spoons

[Jenise]

One of the very few issues that 20 years of living under the same roof has not resolved is the relative value of grapefruit spoons. Without these spoons, chances are reasonably good that I wouldn't eat grapefruit at all. My husband, on the other hand, claims that proper manipulation of a grapefruit spoon is like bicycle riding and linguistically rolling your R's--a skill easily learned in childhood but impossible for an adult to master. Where my hand grasps the spoon, inserts it at the rind end of a segment of a cut half and in a nanosecond twirls it first left, then right, then out, with clean fruit bite up and proud, Bob gouges the rind and tears the membranes, and leaves much of the fruit behind. If he doesn't give up in frustration. He wants his grapefruit sectioned off and released from the rind and membranes with a knife though, of course, in his bachelor days His Highness did not eat this fruit he adores so much because he would not perform this laborious task himself.

No no, do understand that I do not mean the very narrow, pointy ended spoon you have in the sterling silver set you inherited from your Aunt Esther. That spoon presumed that one had a grapefruit surgeon on the downstairs staff who would perform the task mentioned above. No, I'm talking about a spoon the size of a regular teaspoon, also pointy ended but serrated on each side such that it slides easily into and around the segments, liberating the fruit and if you hold the grapefruit half with your other hand at a slight tilt, also a nice spoonful of juice. You eat the segment, then return to release another.

Is it the only way to prepare grapefruit? Well, no. If I'm going to cut up two grapefruit for a shared brekkie, I will use a knife to cut the grapefruit into supremes. But when taking a grapefruit half as your personal serving, then grapefruit spoons are, IMO, a must.

I gave all this some thought this morning as I unwrapped the brand new set of grapefruit spoons I'd sent away for and prepared a bowl of grapefruit for Bob's breakfast. I just couldn't stand to be without these, yet I don't, I realized, know anyone else who has them. Perhaps they don't eat grapefruit, either, but they're also a highly efficient tool for other purposes. They core the seeds out of pear halves quite nicely, are perfect for eating guavas and feijoas, and nothing's better for scraping out pumpkins or the choke out of an artichoke.

So I thought I'd ask about it here. Is my love for these handy little implements really so rare?

My mum loved a half grapefruit and was delighted when she bought a grapefruit spoon

I recall it was serrated on one edge only, to cut, the other side to put in mouth. BUt it was a long time ago.

A long time too since I ate a grapefruit.

I must have grapefruit spoons. I like to supreme my grapefruit, when I make a fresh fruit salad for breakfast or lunch. But I also like to half it, and using a grapefruit knife, part the fruit away from the membrane on each side. I then use a grapefruit spoon for eating, just in case I missed a spot. Do you have a grapefruit knife? I own a single blade, which is the one I use the most, since I have not mastered the double bladed one, that is supposed to release the membrane on two sides.
As you have found, the grapefruit spoons are multi-tasking. I clean out the seeds in cantaloupes, winter squash, and cucumbers, are a few things that come to mind.

I'm afraid I don't use grapefruit spoons; I cut a whole grapefruit into eighths and eat it caveman style.

At home growing up we had a grapefruit sectioner (a sort of serated knife curved at the bottom), and grapefruit spoons (pointy teaspoons) to prepare and eat grapefruit. We now have a sectioner (probably my mother's), but eat with teaspoons.

I have seen grapefruit spoons but never used one. I used to use a grapefruit knife (the same flexible cruved jobby that Carl has) for the fruitful surgery.

Now, i take Lipitor and that's the end of that (grapefruit is the one forbidden food).

That implement was actually among the few things I salvaged from my grandmother's kitchen tools. Only one; which I'd never thought of before this very instant, but how does one procure a single utensil?

We use our grapefruit spoons all the time. Can't remember the last time I didn't. Never had them growing up (so you can tell Bob it is not instinctive), but I suspect someone gifted us a set at one time or another.
Winger

Yup, we have grapefruit spoons, but we are a mixed marriage, one rightie and one leftie and all of these spoons seem to be made for right handed people.

We also own asparagus tongs, special stainless spoons for eating hard boiled eggs, and grape scissors. Never know when you'll need just the right utensil!

I've seen them and I've used them -- but I think what we did mostly was to go around the sections with a sharp knife and then eat with a teaspoon. In recent years -- grapefruit alters the effectiveness of several medications, something to do with the speed of excretion. So I have been discouraged about regular grapefruit use.

But when I make one of the salads I like that involves grapefruit, there is a wonderful one with grapefruit, avocado slices and Major Grey's mango chutney (highly recommended, that's enough of a recipe for any cook) -- I do it the way I learned from Jacques Pepin's books, and skin off the outside with a sharp chef's knife until only fruit is showing, and then slice out the good stuff leaving the membranes behind. Once you have done this a couple of times it is remarkable how quick and easy it becomes.

In season you can add sweet yellow mango slices to the avocado and grapefruit salad, yum!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drugs_affected_by_grapefruit

I grew up peeling and sectioning grapefruit like an orange, and still prefer to eat them that way.

Another one of those absolute necessities, like bicycles for fish.

Inherited eight grapefruit spoons from my mother. Never use them. When we serve grapefruit halves I use a serated knife to remove from the pith and to pre-section the segments. Or, in informal settings as some have said, to cut in quarters or eighths and eat with the fingers.

Best
Rogov

The discussion about grapefruit spoons must have jarred something loose in the universe. By chance, I stopped in a Sunflower Market and discovered Texas red grapefruit at 5/$1. Needless to say, I bought ten of them, and without a grapefruit spoon in sight, my favorite wife and I devoured one last night. Yum. I love grapefruit (I'm so glad I'm not on cholesterol-lowering meds).

[Jenise]

I must have grapefruit spoons. I like to supreme my grapefruit, when I make a fresh fruit salad for breakfast or lunch. But I also like to half it, and using a grapefruit knife, part the fruit away from the membrane on each side. I then use a grapefruit spoon for eating, just in case I missed a spot. Do you have a grapefruit knife? I own a single blade, which is the one I use the most, since I have not mastered the double bladed one, that is supposed to release the membrane on two sides.
As you have found, the grapefruit spoons are multi-tasking. I clean out the seeds in cantaloupes, winter squash, and cucumbers, are a few things that come to mind.

Nope, no grapefruit knife, but I know the type of knife you mean. We had one when I was growing up. But I always found that if your grapefruit spoon is a well made one, you don't need the knife. That is, some spoons are poorly serrated--just on the tip and not sharp enough or far enough along the leading edges of the spoon, so how well a spoon works has a lot to do with how well it's made.

[Jenise]

I do it the way I learned from Jacques Pepin's books, and skin off the outside with a sharp chef's knife until only fruit is showing, and then slice out the good stuff leaving the membranes behind. Once you have done this a couple of times it is remarkable how quick and easy it becomes.

Great technique, and what I meant by "cutting out the supremes". But the grapefruit spoon enables you to eat half a grapefruit standing in front of the kitchen sink--which is where, alone during th day, many of my solo meals take place.

I have a set of grapefruit 8 spoons that were my mother's. I usually eat a grapefruit like a naval orange, peel it and break it into segments.

Afraid I can't watch this thread without thinking "I'll have the gralefrit"
Only Fawlty Towers fans will appreciate that.

Of which I'm one.