Keep Your Little Ones Learning With Some Citrus Science This Summer

When summer comes around each year, it comes with the worry that students of every age, might not do enough to help keep their minds as sharp as they do during the school year.

In fact, that’s probably a worry most people have — that they aren’t using their brain enough.

The Winter Sweetz team knows that one thing you can do to keep your mind active is to ask questions about your food. It’s normal to wonder about what we put into our bodies, especially in such a health-conscious age.

Taking a little time to learn about the structure of the Texas Red Grapefruit is a great way to keep the mental cobwebs away and develop an even deeper appreciation for this fantastic fruit.

What’s on the outside is as beautiful as what’s on the inside.

The layer of skin that locks in all the goodness of a Ruby Red grapefruit is called the flavedo. While this may sound like a type of dance or music, it is actually the storage facility for the many essential oils of grapefruit.

Many of the compounds responsible for that wonderful grapefruit smell can be found in these oils. This is one of the reasons why chefs will grate the skin of a grapefruit into dishes they cook, to add that aroma.

#WinterSweetz Grapefruit Tip: Grate the skin of a #grapefruit to add flavor and aroma to your dish Click To Tweet

One of these compounds, nootkatone, is an effective bug repellant. The only thing holding this bug-killer back is that it costs nearly $4,000 to make a kilogram of the stuff.

The white section of the peel is called the pith or albedo. While we’re not sure why it needed two names, we do know that it is here that you can find things like naringin and pectin.

Naringin is the bitter compound responsible for the taste of grapefruit. If you’re looking for a little variety in flavor, you can boil a Winter Sweetz Texas Red grapefruit to soften its bitterness.

Pectin is used as a gelling agent for different types of foods like jams and jellies. One great benefit is that it is extremely high in fiber, which has helped to make grapefruits a popular element of healthy diets.

#TexasRed #grapefruits are excellent sources of fiber Click To Tweet

What’s on the inside is as tasty as it is amazing.

The center of the grapefruit is called the columella.

Stretching from the center to the outer peel are the grapefruit’s membrane. These fruit walls are made up of tissue that brings food and water to a grapefruit’s cells. The membrane can divide the inside of a grapefruit into as many as 30 sections.

In each one of these segments are hundreds of vesicles, the places where all the magic is held. These little joy-bringers, ironically shaped like tears, are where the juice in a grapefruit is stored.

The esters in the fruit juice bring that famous flavor, high in sugar and acid, which is most concentrated at the blossom end of the fruit.

Most of a grapefruit’s pigments are found in the juice, making them anywhere from a pale yellow to the beautiful vivid red you find in Winter Sweetz Texas Red Grapefruits.

Keep laughing, living and learning all summer with Winter Sweetz.

Summer should be a time to relax and ease the strain on your mind for a little while. But there are plenty of easy ways to keep it comfortably busy.

At Winter Sweetz, we encourage you to learn as much as you can about grapefruits. Whether enjoying the wonderful taste of one of our Texas Reds or learning about the greatness packed into them, grapefruits can go a long way in taking the edge out of life and helping you keep your mental one.

Contact us today at 956-424-7775 to find out how you can make grapefruit part of your summer.