There’s nothing like the divine scent or taste of the tangy sweetness of a grapefruit. Though they may vary in color, they don’t much vary in their properties.
Many claims made concerning grapefruit say that it may do everything from helping one in losing weight, boosting immunity, and lifting the spirits, to fighting cancer and heart issues. It’s also been stated by Harvard online that grapefruit can interact with many medications; see this table which lists some of the most important along with related drugs that are less likely to be influenced.
It happens to be one of my favorite scents of the citrus oils . Not that I don’t adore tangerine, lemon, orange, kumquat, key lime,.. etc.; I love all citrus, it’s just that grapefruit is so bright and snappy you have no choice but to smile.
The delectable aroma of grapefruit has a pronounced impact on the senses and emotions. In aromatherapy applications, grapefruit is refreshing, cheering, slightly euphoria-inducing and slightly energizing. Grapefruit’s sweet and familiar aroma can evoke warm feelings that melt sour dispositions. Grapefruit is a “releasing” oil — so personalities that tend to harbor resentment or keep emotions bottled up can benefit from inhaling this oil. ~Aura Cacia
Grapefruit’s the perfect pick-me-up, especially when blended with tangerine. Carry one in your purse for an instant mood enhancer. A blend of 20 drops grapefruit essential oil, and 20 drops of tangerine essential oil in a 4 oz. spray bottle filled with purified or distilled water, shake and spray. Sunshine smiles in a bottle.
Speaking of sunshine smiles, what else makes you smile? Did you say cupcakes? I hadn’t had a cupcake in forever, and I’m sure that it probably would have been better to just eat the grapefruit, but I couldn’t help myself, so grapefruit cupcakes it had to be.
Of course I had to tweak the recipes, I can never just make anything exactly as written. LOL. So I read, then decided to combine three different recipes into one -Orange Chiffon Cake, Golden Cupcakes, and then threw in a little of the Golden Layer Cake recipe, and topped it off with buttercream frosting – and of course added grapefruit juice and zest. Oh yeah. Cupcakes with a twang.
Grapefruit Cupcakes with Buttercream Grapefruit Frosting
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
10 TBL (1 stick + 1/4 stick) unsalted butter softened
2 cups (about 9 oz) cake or all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar (most recipes called for only white sugar, but I had to sub. a little brown sugar!)
4 eggs
1 TBL grated grapefruit zest
1 cup sour cream
3 TBL grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
Set oven to 350 degrees. Put muffin/cupcake papers to fill two cupcake/muffin tins. Cream butter, 3 – 4 min. Gradually add sugars, and cream together until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, add zest, juice, sour cream. Sift together salt, soda and flour, and stir into batter until smooth. Use an ice-cream scoop to place batter into papers. Bake for 20 min. Cool. Then frost with buttercream grapefruit frosting.
Buttercream Grapefruit Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter (8 TBL) softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 TBL. fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
1 TBL grapefruit zest
Cream butter, add remainder of ingredients and beat well. Adjust with confectioners’ sugar if too thin, or more grapefruit juice if it’s too thick. Frost cupcakes after cooling.
Want to know how to make Candied Grapefruit Peel: for the top? Click here. .
See resources for more information on the glory of grapefruit.
RESOURCES & More Reading:
Harvard.edu/grapefruit and medications
Grapefruit search on Yahoo Voices
Grapefruit Benefits
Grapefruit Essential Oil ~ Aura Cacia
Grapefruit Essential Oil Facts & Uses
Search for grapefruit on YellowstarEssentials WordPress blog
Grapefruit color codes for html
Candied Grapefruit peel recipe (and triple grapefruit cupcake recipe with pics)
