Pink Grapefruit Fizz

April 18, 2022

Ya know how there are some things in life that you forget just how much you love until you come in contact with that thing again and then you are suddenly reminded of just how much you love it? Well this is my relationship with grapefruits. I absolutely love them, but what usually happens is that I see them at the grocery store, get all excited, buy a few, eat them and then instantly forget they exist until a good bit of time passes, I see them in the grocery store, get all excited… and on goes the cycle.

So, this morning, when I saw a pile of beautiful pink grapefruits at the grocery store, I brought them home with me.

There are many ways to enjoy a grapefruit, but one of my favorites is in beverage form. It only takes a few minutes to whip up a grapefruit simple syrup and you can use that to make grapefruitade (using my favorite lemonade recipe), grapefruit palomas, a grapefruit shandy or this beautiful grapefruit fizz.

Let’s get it started…

The first step is to pick out your grapefruits. Did you know that there are 13 different types of grapefruits? So there is quite a variety to choose from when it comes to flavor. I am using pink grapefruits today, but you could use any type of grapefruit you want for your fizz.

The sweetest grapefruit is the “flame grapefruit”. It is super bright pink inside and contains little to no seeds. Their flavor is mostly sweet with just a subtle hint of sourness. The pink grapefruit is right in the middle of the grapefruit scale when it comes to sweetness and sourness. It is very juicy (one of the reasons I chose it for this drink) and brings an equal amount of sweet and sour to the party. The white grapefruit is the least sweet and most sour of the grapefruits. I like having them for breakfast and if you are looking for a drink that is on the more sour and tart side, a white grapefruit would be the best choice.

To make a grapefruit simple syrup, you will need equal parts fresh grapefruit juice, granulated sugar and water. In addition to choosing which type of grapefruit you use, this is another place that you can control or alter the sweetness level of this drink. If you want your simple syrup sweeter or if you could not find sweet enough grapefruits, use 3/4 cup of fresh grapefruit juice instead of a whole cup.

Start by bringing 1 cup of water to a boil.

Once boiling, whisk in 1 cup of granulated sugar and whisk continuously until the sugar has completely dissolved. This is a classic simple syrup.

Remove the simple syrup from the heat and stir in your fresh grapefruit juice.

To assemble your drinks, fill each glass half full with ice and then add enough cooled grapefruit simple syrup to come half way up the glass. Fill the rest of the glass with sparkling water and garnish with a grapefruit wedge and some mint leaves.

At this point, it is ready to serve. It is delicious, crisp and tart, but I don’t think it is quite pink enough, do you?

To bring a little more pink into our pink grapefruit fizz, add a splash of grenadine syrup (I always use Rose’s Grenadine). It adds a little bit of sweet pomegranate flavor, that will not compromise the boldness of the grapefruit, but compliments it in both taste and color…

Isn’t that just beautiful? It only takes a tiny bit of grenadine to develop this bright pink color that just pops against the yellow rind of the grapefruit and the bright green mint leaves. It is a drink that will add fun flavors and beautiful colors to any table.

If you would like to make this pretty little drink a bit more… shall we say… “adult”, feel free to add a splash or two of gin to create a unique grapefruit twist on a classic gin fizz.

I hope you love this grapefruit fizz as much as I do. It is bright and cheerful in both its flavor and appearance and in my opinion, it is a great choice to serve with everything from your lunch time salad to a backyard burger or with cocktails at a weekend dinner party.

Enjoy!

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