Winter is citrus season, and after almost four years of living in California, I’ve become so spoiled in stocking up on my citrus fresh from the trees. Citrus is everywhere this time of year – at the farmer’s markets, in my CSA box, gifted from my coworker’s trees around the office, and out in the garden. I currently have a fridge full of lemons, a big bag of fresh grapefruit, and a beautiful bowl of mandarins from my last CSA. Citrus is everywhere, and I try to eat at least one big dose of it a day.
I really enjoy grapefruit in juiced form, I love that one ruby red grapefruit can basically fill the glass with pulpy, fresh, pink juice. I decided to add some mandarin oranges to my glass today as well, as I have a pile that are a little too sour to eat straight (I’m a sour wimp – Chris loves them straight!), but perfect for juicing. Since I always add a good amount of sugar to my grapefruit juice, I thought the combination of tangy grapefruit with the slightly sour oranges would make an excellent juice blend. And friends, they really worked well.
The color of my resulting juice was a brilliant coral pink, and I feel fully flushed with Vitamin C to carry myself through the rest of my afternoon. The flavor was perfectly tart and sweet, zesty and bright, and full of pulp from the freshly squeezed fruit. I was able to get a whole grapefruit plus 4 mandarins into my glass, which is a good portion of my fruit serving for the day all in one go!
I understand that fruit has a lot of natural sugar, plus I always add an extra tablespoon of sugar to my grapefruit juice, so that energy boost may have come from a little sugar spike as well! If you are looking to reduce your sugar intake, swap the sugar with some stevia or your favorite low-calorie sweetener. Alternatively, you can cut the juice with some seltzer water to make a nice spritz – add as much or as little juice as you would like for a stronger (more sugar) or weaker (less sugar) fruity flavor. If you are a sour/tart fan, you can also skip the extra sugar entirely and drink the juice straight. I personally am okay with having a little sugar in my diet and I think the juice benefits from a little extra sweetness, so I drank this whole glass straight today and really enjoyed it! Hopefully these options can help adjust this juice to meet a variety of lifestyles!
Recipe down below, photo up top! This makes enough for one big (about 8 oz) serving of juice, so feel free to scale up for a big pitcher or to use as a mixer for spritzes throughout the week.
Grapefruit Sunrise Juice
Ingredients:
- 1 ruby red grapefruit
- 4 mandarin oranges
- 1 tbsp sugar
Method:
- Using a citrus reamer or your preferred juicer, juice the grapefruit and oranges into a large glass. Discard the rinds.
- Add the sugar to the glass, and mix until the sugar is fully dissolved.
- Enjoy!
Want more recipes that highlight the best of citrus season? Check these out here!
Posted by 
Claire Aucella 