I grew up on Long Island and have vivid memories of how much my father hated the month of January. It was always a cold, dark, and dreary month. The fun and festivities of the holidays were over and it was time to shed those excess pounds.

My dad used to commute on the Long Island Railroad from our suburban home into New York City each day. My father and I have always been early birds, so each cold and often snowy morning during the month of January, I’d watch my dad start his day with a grapefruit. I often silently wondered if my dad was tucking into those juicy ruby reds as a way to add a little sunshine to the day ahead. I really suspect that he was!

My dad always ate his aromatic grapefruit in the same way. He’d cut it in half along the “equator” and then use his trusty vintage grapefruit knife in order to carefully segment the juicy fruit inside. Sometimes, he’d use a grapefruit spoon to scoop up the segments or he’d just make do with a regular spoon.

I don’t have a grapefruit knife or a grapefruit spoon in my kitchen, but I think I might be adding one soon. Both tools certainly make it easy to get a delicious dose of sunshine!

If you are a grapefruit fan, do you use a grapefruit knife or spoon?

Photo by Carolyn B. Trainer

–Melissa A. Trainer