A friend’s grapefruit tree is giving forth its bounty, and I’d like to make more juice than I can probably drink before some of it going bad. Unfortunately, this only occurred to me less than a day before I’m going to his place to make the juice, so I don’t know if there is a commonly known (to all but me) preservatives that one can buy in the supermarket.
Can one purchase preservatives for just such an occasion? Is there a section in the supermarket that I never noticed before?
Fresh squeezed gf juice is ambrosia to me, and with a shot of vodka is the most sublime alcoholic drink imaginable. I would like to enjoy this somewhat rare treat for as long as possible.
Just freeze it. It might not be as “fresh” as freshly squeezed when thawed but it will certainly taste better than it would adulterated with a preservative or left to sit in the fridge.
AFAIK, there’s no chemical that you can just drop into a jug of juice and have it be preserved. So you have two options, canning or freezing.
Unless you’ve got a LOT of spare time on your hands, I wouldn’t recommend trying to can it. Also, there’s a considerably outlay for equipment, and IMHO it’s not worth it.
Freezing is a good choice. Just make sure the lids of whatever Tupperware container you use are on TIGHT and that the thing is RIGHT SIDE UP when you put it in the freezer. Also, you can freeze it in batches in a Tupperware container of some kind, and then take the big pink cylindrical ice cube out and stick it in a plastic bag. This saves on buying Tupperware.
I was under the mistaken impression that the fruit would go bad/overripe on the tree soon, so it turns out I can just make more juice next week or so.
Thanks for the info though, folks. I may still freeze some, frozen fresh-squeezed is going to taste better than the stuff from the supermarket in a few months.
I assume the gf juice would expand about as much as water when freezing, since it is mostly water. Is this correct?
And don’t forget the ever-popular option to ferment the juice. Sure, it might seem odd at first glance, but you’d be the only one serving grapefruit wine at the company picnic this summer.