Unripe grapefruit as lime substitute? (Because: grapefruit vivipary!)

October 19, 2014 7:19 PM

I picked a delicious looking grapefruit from a neighbors over-burdened and neglected tree--only to find out that it had undergone vivipary--the seeds had somehow germinated and started growing inside the plant.

Apparently this can happen in certain conditions of warmth/coolness. The meat of the fruit itself was not worth eating. I tried to pick a less-ripe looking grapefruit, but it had the same thing. I think the whole tree may have undergone this, all but two look old and past-ripe. However, there are two that are still completely green. This all started out with me wanting to make a cocktail anyway, so now I'm wondering if a green unripe grapefruit can make a good substitute for lemon? I guess it would be more acidic, but similarly sour? Or is unripe grapefruit bad in other ways?

posted by brenton to Food & Drink (2 answers total)

Best answer: Hmm, no, having long used unripe (and overly ripe) neighborhood grapefruit in southern California (the SGV) this will not give you a tasty lemon flavor. A green grapefruit will give you a bitter and not at all pleasant taste.

However, I can recommend their use as driveway bowling balls. This is tons of fun no matter what time of year it is, particularly if your driveway has a bit of an angle. The green grapefruit that never ripen on our neighbor's tree (which we pick for him at his request) sometimes can go up to 1/8 of a mile. But we have a pretty good angle. (Don't do this when cars are around, those grapefruit can pack a sizeable whallop).

Cocktail: no
Driveway bowling: yes
posted by arnicae at 8:29 PM on October 19, 2014 [20 favorites]

Response by poster: Nice answer. Favorited 21 times (and counting?).

Thanks!
posted by brenton at 12:44 PM on October 22, 2014