The Grapefruit and the Author!

I had no idea that this post would end up highlighting a Pulitzer prize winning author named Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings who wrote 'The Yearling' in 1938!  This is how food research has become like detective work for me.  Let me tell you how this process started today before I share these recipes from our American past.  It's been days since I've been able to post due to the insanity that has invaded my life this month.  I had been staring at these recipe cards that I removed from the recipe file for consideration because they seemed 'summery' and would fit in with an August theme.  My older son saw that I was lost in thought in front of the computer screen and inquired about my obvious writer's block.  I told him that I was trying to come up with something witty to write about the grapefruit (click on the link for an informative article from Wikipedia).  He immediately suggested that I write about the funny spoons.  I had no idea that he even knew about the 'funny spoons'!  A recent college graduate, he told me that they serve grapefruit every morning in the cafeteria at his school and they always had the funny spoons available for people to eat them.  Huh.  So...I had to ask - had he had grapefruit in college?  What a shock.  He said he had tried it but it just didn't agree with him but the spoons were cool.  Then - he left.  And I was left to do some more exploring. 

I learned all about where they are grown and how healthy they can be for you and how in some instances the consumption of grapefruit can help medications work for you or hinder their ability to do so.  My advise is to check your medication inserts because there just might be a 'grapefruit advisory'!  I then carefully perused these old recipes which I judged to be from the 40's or 50's when I saw written in small handwriting on the bottom of one index card, 'Cross Creek Cookery'.  Well...isn't Google a wonderful thing?  That led me straight to the author of the above cook book that really isn't a cook book but a collection of recipes and memoirs from Cross Creek, Florida written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in 1942!  She wrote this little book in 1938 called "The Yearling" which won the Pulitzer prize in 1939 and shortly afterward was made into a movie!  So Florida grapefruit recipes did indeed lead me to learn about a famous author that I truly knew nothing about who also loved American food and food history enough to write a regional food memoir. Now you know.  Let's get to some fun and retro recipes!

Grapefruit

Sprinkle a grapefruit half with a dash of cinnamon, mace, or nutmeg: 1 T. sugar and dot with 1 t. butter.  Bake in a moderately hot oven for 15-20 minutes, or broil - 3 inches from heat - slowly - same length of time.  Serve hot for dessert.

or:

Sprinkle the edges with brown sugar, powdered clove, and dots of butter.  Fill the center with sherry.  Bake in a hot oven until lightly browned.  Serve hot.

( Cross Creek Cookery )  I found that this cook book memoir was published in 1942.  Below are two more grapefruit recipes that are well...interesting in a 1950 kind of way! 

Grapefruit Cooler

1 Tsp. plain unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. cold water
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1 no. 2 can grapefruit, cut in small pieces
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt
1 egg white beaten stiff

1.  Soften gelatin in the 1 Tbsp. water for 5 min.
2.  Boil sugar and water 5 minutes.
3.  Add softened gelatin; stir well and then cool.
4.  Add grapefruit, salt and lemon juice
5.  Add egg white.  Mix well and freeze.
6.  Stir once after it starts to freeze.

And finally, here's a gel mold for those of you who can't get enough of them!

Molded Grapefruit Salad

1 - 3 oz. pkg. lime flavor gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup grapefruit juice
1 cup grapefruit pieces
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup creamed cottage cheese

Dissolve lime flavor gelatin in boiling water.  Add ginger and grapefruit juice.  Chill until mixture starts to congeal.

Add grapefruit pieces, celery and cottage cheese.  Mix well.

Pour into a 5-6 cup mold.  Chill until firm.  Unmold on crisp greens.  Serve with mayonnaise or salad dressing.  Makes 6 servings.

There's a note that the above recipe is especially good with pork and chicken.  Not convinced.  And just because I can't help myself...I don't trust any recipe with the word 'congeal' in the directions!  Because.  Here's a short little video about Cross Creek, Florida and the Yearling Restaurant.