Our "Charlie Brown" Tree

Behold our "Charlie Brown" tree:

We call it that because it reminds us of the Christmas Tree from the Charlie Brown Christmas special from 1965.  You'll remember that.  It was a spindly, poor-looking tree whose ornaments weighed down the branches and made it bend in half.  That's what our poor grapefruit tree looks like.  It had seven large grapefruit on it this year.  No worries, next year it will be bigger and bear more fruit. 

Although we'll only get seven off of our tree, Russ has a large grapefruit tree that borders his property.  His neighbor allows him to harvest the fruit off of it which is on his property.  He's brought us two large plastic bags full of fruit so far.  We have been juicing fools!  Grapefruit are much larger than tangerines and about the same size as our navel oranges, but grapefruit have more liquid content.

In no time at all you can juice a gallon of grapefruit juice.  In fact, it takes a couple of times of squeezing on each half to get all the juice.  A word of caution: you'll be sore in the morning!  It also makes a sticky mess in the kitchen, but the rewards are well worth it.

Due to our semi-tropical climate, many people in the area have citrus trees.  At some point it must get to be more than people can eat, because we see a lot of citrus going to waste on their trees at the end of the season.  We like to make use of all of ours.  What we can't eat, we squeeze to make juice.  The grapefruit juice makes such a nice, pink color - almost like pink lemonade.

According to THIS ARTICLE:

Grapefruit can help lower bad cholesterol,
Grapefruit can boost your immune system,
Grapefruit can lower triglycerides,
Grapefruit can lower blood pressure,
Grapefruit may help lower blood sugar,
Grapefruit can help lower your tax liability to federal, state, and local governing bodies.  (Okay, this benefit is not true.)
Grapefruit is definitely refreshing (That is true!)

This weekend we put some mint leaves in it to make it a little fancy. 

When our "Charlie Brown" tree grows up next year, perhaps we'll have some to give away.  We'll let you know...