There’s a lovely suggestion for serving grapefruit in a hundred-year-old magazine. The membrane between the segments is removed, and a maraschino cherry (or other fruit) is added as a garnish.
When two of my children visited recently, I tried serving grapefruit this way. The feedback very positive. Both agreed that the grapefruit was attractive and easy to eat.
Updated directions for modern cooks: Halve the grapefruit with a small paring knife; next cut around the edge of the grapefruit and around each segment, and then carefully remove several segments. With the knife cut the center membrane near where it is attached to the grapefruit rind, and then gently remove all of the membranes. After the membranes are removed, replace previously removed segments, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.
A Hundred Years Ago 
I was a child in the 1950’s and recall my parents had a grapefruit knife. It was curved to help cut along the curve of the grapefruit, and serrated on both sides of the knife to cut thru the flesh. I now wonder whatever happened to that handy implement.
I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a grapefruit knife, but it sounds like it would be very useful.
Pretty and refreshing! (p.s. to Judy, I used to have one of those knives, too, I think they’re still around. 🙂 )
I’m going to have to look for a grapefruit knife the next time I’m in a store that sells kitchen gadgets.
I never realized the entire membrane could be removed so easily. I wish I knew this trick when my kids were little.
It’s fairly easy to remove the membrane once you cut the around the edge and the segments, and the center membrane.
This is exactly how my mother made/served grapefruit. I still eat a lot of this fruit—having a tree in the backyard—but maraschino cherries aren’t available in Australia, so I have to do without the decoration. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m always learning new things from readers comments. I never would have guessed that maraschino cherries aren’t available in Australia – though the grapefruit is probably healthier without the cherry. I know that maraschino cherries are a very processed food (though they’ve been around for more than a hundred years), but they are so pretty and tasty. 🙂
What a lot of work it seems! I recall this preparation from when I was in Britain and always thought of it as ‘old fashioned’ – guess I was right!
It’s how my mother always prepared it – and I still do the odd times we have grapefruit. It was no bother at all, and made it so much easier to eat. ‘Old fashioned’ is sometimes good!
I agree! Removing the membrane definitely makes it easier to eat the grapefruit.
🙂 Yes, you’re right – this way of eating grapefruit has been around for at least a hundred years.
I still have a grapefruit knife and still use it. I never removed the membrane, though. The family was trained to eat the loosened segments with a spoon, and they were happy with that. Your photograph is lovely.
We also generally just scoop the segments out with a spoon.
I always loosen the segments too and eat with a spoon! Taking out the membrane seems like a lot of work.
It is more work – though the grapefruit is very easy to eat once the membrane has been removed.
I have both a curved grapefruit knife AND grapefruit spoons! They’re serrated at the tips, to make getting the sections out even easier, if the knife missed a spot. It certainly does make grapefruit eating more pleasant. An interesting note: in Liberia, people peel them, pull the segments apart, and eat them like an orange.
It’s amazing how many specialized kitchen gadgets exist just to make it easier to eat grapefruit. 🙂 It’s interesting how grapefruit is served in different ways in different locales.
We always eat it like this as I have the spoons and knife too!
I’m going to have to look for them. I don’t remember seeing grapefruit spoons and knives at kitchen gadget stores around here, but I probably missed them because I wasn’t looking specifically for them.
I bought the spoons a few years back but the knives are handed down.
A very pretty way to serve Grapefruit!
It did look nice and made breakfast seem a little bit festive.
What a great idea!
It’s nice to hear that you liked it. I also thought that it seemed like a fun idea when I saw it in the old magazine.
I’m sorry I’m so behind on reading your posts. I miss reading them. Life’s a bit of a whirlwind it seems. Just curious where you get 100 year old magazines.
I agree. Have you got an attic stuffed with treasures, Sheryl?
It sounds like it could be fun to have an attic stuffed with treasures – but, no, that’s not where I get the recipes and other information that I post. Over the years I’ve purchased several hundred-year-old cookbooks from flea markets and Ebay, but I get most of the material from the library. I am very fortunate to live near a very good library that has lots of hundred-year-old magazines and books.
Ooooo! I’d love to go to a library like that! And, what a great idea to buy them over the years. Think I’ll keep my eye out! 🙂
Sometimes you can find old cookbooks from the early 1900s at amazingly low prices. I’m betting that you’ll find some nice ones.
I’ll look then, thank you.
Wonderful responses for grapefruit, but so many of us oldies, but still goodies cannot eat grapefruit because of interactions with medications. Have not even had a desire to serve it, but the way Sheryl has shown us is beautiful and compelling.
Sheila
I can eat grapefruit, and didn’t think about it when I did the post, but you’re absolutely right – grapefruit is off limits for many people.
Nice post. I eat grapefruit all throughout the winter months and cut it almost like this. I also like to squeeze it into juice for my son and me.
mmm. . . I like the juice, too. After I eat the grapefruit segments, I typically squeeze the juice into my spoon so that I can enjoy every last bit of the grapefruit.
I think preparing a grapefruit in this way would make it very cheerful looking.
Your children’s positive review makes it a winner in my book. 🙂
I also want to try this with a white grapefruit. I think that the maraschino cherry would be a nice color contrast.
What a lovely presentation indeed! I am going to make this too! 🙂 Yummm!
It’s easy to serve grapefruit this way–and the presentation is lovely.
I remember having grapefruit like this. We also had a special grapefruit knife. Now I have seen grapefruit spoons . It is a teaspoon with a slight serrated edge. I like to give them as gifts for the person who has everything.
I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a grapefruit knife, but I can remember some grapefruit spoons that my parents had when I was a child. If I ever see any grapefruit spoons at a store, I may have to buy some for myself. 🙂
They work. Plus, saves time because everyone sections their own grapefruit.
I think this is one. Hopefully the link will work.https://www.amazon.com/HIC-Squirtfree-Twin-Blade-Grapefruit-Sectioning/dp/B000J0ZJDY
Thanks for the link. I had no clue what a grapefruit knife looked like until I cIicked on the link. It’s a really interesting looking knife.
True. We had a less fancy one, but they work!