If grapefruit peel has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 13 recipes to try it in.

What is grapefruit peel?

Grapefruit peel is the skin of the fruit, used two distinct ways in the kitchen. The thin, brightly colored outer layer is the zest, where the fragrant citrus oil lives. The thick white layer beneath it is the pith, which is spongy and bitter.

In recipes, grapefruit peel usually means one of two things: a little grated zest for aroma, or the whole peel simmered in sugar syrup to make candied grapefruit peel.

The two call for opposite handling, because the oil you want and the bitterness you do not are in different layers.

How to Use Grapefruit Peel

For flavor, you want only the zest. Scrape the colored surface with a rasp grater or zester and stop the moment you hit white pith.

That zest perfumes batters and creams. It lifts a Fresh Grapefruit Cottage Bread and a Grapefruit Chiffon Cake with floral citrus you cannot get from juice alone, and it does the same for a grapefruit mousse.

Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips before mixing. Crushing it against the sugar crystals releases the oil and spreads it evenly through the batter.

Candying is the other path, and here you keep the whole peel. Cut it into strips, then blanch it in boiling water two or three times, changing the water each time, to pull out most of the bitterness.

After that you simmer the strips slowly in sugar syrup. Candied Grapefruit Peel ends up chewy and sweet-tart, good chopped into cakes or dipped in dark chocolate.

A wide strip of peel, pith trimmed off, also drops into a simmering pot to scent a syrup or a citrus marmalade.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Grapefruit peel loves partners that balance its edge: sugar, dark chocolate, honey, ginger, and vanilla. The zest perks up seafood too, which is why a little works in a Crab n' Pink Grapefruit Salad alongside the segments.

The number one mistake is grating into the pith. Take any of the white layer and you carry real bitterness into the dish, since grapefruit pith is more bitter than orange or lemon. Grate light, and stop early.

The second mistake is skipping the blanching step when candying. Without those changes of water, the finished peel stays harshly bitter rather than pleasantly sweet-tart.

The last is using waxed or sprayed fruit unwashed. Conventional grapefruit often has a food-grade wax coating, so scrub it under warm water first or buy unwaxed when the peel is the point.

Substitutes

For zest in a recipe, orange or lemon zest is the easiest swap. Both are less bitter and a touch sweeter, so you lose a little of grapefruit's bitter-floral edge but keep the bright citrus oil. Use the same quantity.

For candied grapefruit peel, candied orange peel is the natural stand-in and is far easier to find at the store. Candied lemon peel works too, with a sharper, less floral result.

When you only need the aroma, a few drops of grapefruit extract or a spoonful of marmalade can carry the flavor, though neither gives the chew of real candied peel.

Buying and Storage

The best peel comes from heavy, firm grapefruit with smooth, taut skin and no soft spots. Whole fruit keeps about a week at room temperature or up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

Zest just before you need it; the oil fades fast once the peel is grated.

If you have extra, freeze zest in a small bag or stir it into sugar and keep that citrus sugar sealed.

Candied peel is a keeper. Stored airtight at room temperature it lasts a month or more, and tossing the strips in granulated sugar before storing helps keep them from sticking together.

Quick facts

In Chinese

柚子皮

British (UK) term

Grapefruit peel

en français

écorce de pamplemousse

en español

cáscara de pomelo

Recipes using grapefruit peel

There are 13 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 13 recipes