Oro Blanco Fruit Salad

   I don't know if you've noticed it in your area, that around Tet there are all kinds of grapefruit in the market, pommelo, pink, ruby, yellow, white you name it. 
Also remember that as a tradition at Tet, we usually have a platter of fruit on the altar on the first day of the year composed of five different kinds of fruit such as du*a (zu*= more than enouph), xoai` (xai`=to spend), tho*m (= as in fragrant) to keep you smelling heavenly and having more than enough to spend for the rest of the year :) and I've forgotten the last two kinds of fruit.
    In any case, I think we should add Oro Blanco (white gold) to the platter, don't you agree? :)
Oro blanco is a cross between a grapefruit and an acidless pommelo and it's my favorite of all grapefruits because it's not at all bitter, but sweet and fragrant. More on the glory of grapefruit in the article at the end of this post.

There are many recipes for grapefruit salad out there. There is the vietnamese goi? with prawns and spicy fish sauce, the fusion salad with jicama, rice vinegar and minced mint, etc..  Here I like it mixed with other fresh fruits like strawberries, blueberries, apple and doused with kirsch then served as a healthy snack or dessert with some low fat yoghurt.

Ingredients:

- 1 oro blanco

-  a handful blue berries and strawberries

- 1/2 a fuji apple

- a dash of Kirsch

Preparation:

- Wash the berries, cut the strawberries in fourth or sixth and put in a bowl, sprinkle with a bit of sugar if the strawberries are not in season.

- Peel the grapefruit, trim away the pith while holding  fruit over a bowl to catch the juice. Section fruit; remove membranes. Pull out the sections and mix with the berries in the bowl.

- Peel and cut the apple into bite size, mix well with the grapefruit juice in the bowl to keep them from turning brown. 

- Sprinkle the fruit salad with kirsch and keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

" Hanging around on trees all about California: grapefruits -- heavy with juice, tartly sweet, beguilingly perfumed. Round and yellow as happy faces or suns, they seem to ripen just as the general populace sinks into its annual round of post-holiday dietary self-chastisement.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But we say run with it.

Look beyond the obvious salvo of half a grapefruit for breakfast attacked with a jagged spoon, and you'll find a marvelous fruit for peeling and eating out of hand. There's nothing like it for inducing simultaneous feelings of gastronomic piety and delight at recapturing a long-lost pleasure. It's sensual: the aroma of essential oils as they spurt daintily from the pores of the thick skin, the ripping sound of the tenacious segments being pulled apart, the juice dripping down. And it's delicious.

But don't stop there. Cook with grapefruit. Use its juice to flavor sauces. Section and scatter it. Bake with it. Candy its peel. Grapefruit is milder and sweeter than lemon, but it can be used in many of the same ways -- squeezed on grilled fish, made into a brightly flavored curd (like pie filling or a jam-like spread for biscuits). And if you're looking for gorgeous color, red grapefruit offers extra plate appeal.

The notion that red grapefruit is sweeter than white or yellow grapefruit is, however, a myth, according to citrus specialists. (The story grew out of a marketing campaign by Texas growers.) Red grapefruits get their color from lycopene, which has health benefits (it's an antioxidant) but does not affect flavor.

Sweetness is determined, rather, by the length of time the fruit has been hanging on a tree. A grapefruit picked in December isn't as sweet as one picked in February.

All the different varieties have their fans. California reds include the medium-pink Rio Reds from the Coachella Valley and the Star Ruby from the Central Valley (and Texas). Yellow Marsh is a familiar yellow variety and the Duncan, while not usually labeled as such  in supermarkets, is a reliable white.

For those who don't like the tartness of a true grapefruit, Oro Blanco -- the half-grapefruit, half-acidless pummelo -- is sweeter, good for salads. [...]

For cooking, select heavy fruit, which indicates juiciness. (If you're making a batch of candied peel, however, lighter fruit will indicate more peel.) Before juicing, roll a grapefruit under your hand on the countertop to help extract the most juice. (Editor's note: If it's chilled, warm it slightly in the microwave to release more juice.) Avoid lumpy fruit, which may be over-ripe.

And finally, for those whose resolute January superegos care about such things, here's a reassuring thought: Grapefruit is low in calories (40 to 60 each) and high in vitamins C and A. So peel away."

By Donna Deane
Los Angeles Times