All the reasons to get excited about grapefruit

Understandably there are many out there who are still scarred by their ill-advised adolescent attempt at the dreaded Grapefruit Diet. A grapefruit eaten with every meal was supposed to magically burn off fat. Instead, it simply magically burned away the will to live.

Three grapefruit a day for 10 days equals... way too many grapefruit.

Slow your breathing. Everything is okay. We're not making you go back there. Instead, we'd like to re-introduce you to this most marvellous fruit. We promise you won't have to eat it three times a day.

Instead, you get to indulge your inner foodie while you reap grapefruit's many benefits. These include being sky-high in vitamins C and A, plus good sources of fibre, carbohydrates, antioxidants, potassium, thiamine, folate and magnesium. There's even a little added protein.

A lot to get excited about there. Here's how to wrap that excitement up and munch on it with glee.

Simple pleasures

Let's start at the very beginning. With an unadulterated ruby grapefruit marmalade that will send a little tangy sunshine your way every time you sit down to breakfast. It's also a superb addition to a cheese platter.

All the flavours

If it's sweet, sharp, crunchy, zesty, chilli and sour you're after, munch on this beef carpaccio. Punchy grapefruit is contributing most of those flavours, of course.

So much bitter

Different ingredients will bring out either the sweet, sour or bitter notes in grapefruit. In Adam Liaw's salad, the focus is on the bitter, achieved by adding peppery blue cheese, rocket and watercress. It's not all sharp notes, however. Caramelising the grapefruit adds plenty of sweetness, too.

Stickybeak

Combining your beloved grapefruit with other citrus creates magic to pour over simply cooked fish. In this recipe, mahi mahi is used as it's a particularly creamy fish that pairs so well with the sticky citrus sauce.

Always agrio

The Spanish word agrio translates as sour, tart and acidic. So, pretty much your average grapefruit without its sweet side. It more than holds its own with other strong flavours in this slow-cooked pork and salad dish.

Salad days

Salad works year round when grapefruit gets involved. On a bright winter's day, there's nothing finer than a dish like this citrus and avo salad. Grapefruit mingles with blood orange, orange, mandarin and yuzu to make a bright and cheery seasonal dish.

Sorbet refresh

Another fine way to enjoy grapefruit is in any kind of sorbet form. This especially refreshing version whizzes pink grapefruit and orange juice with Aperol for an extra kick.

Well seasoned

Grapefruit goes especially well with pepper. No, really. Try grinding some fresh pepper onto a grapefruit half and you'll soon see what we mean. Or you could just make a batch of these grapefruit and pepper meringue tartlets and thank us later.

Sweet stop

If you're making something super sweet (like, say, a layered Turkish delight pavlova), bitter grapefruit keeps things from tipping too far into 'saccharine' territory. Instead, you end up with a balanced dessert that feels surprisingly light.

Darkly bright

A tangy-sweet ruby grapefruit glaze cuts through a rich, dark chocolate cake to win over even the most staunch grapefruit-hater. Especially when candied grapefruit look so enticingly pretty on top!

Drink up

Who needs tonic or even gin when you've got a refreshing level of tang coming from rum and ruby red grapefruit juice? Add some pepper for that perfect balance of flavours we discussed at length above...