Mandelo

FIND - Because of the uncommon nature of the fruit, the peculiar origins of the plant, and the confusing use of the word 'grapefruit,' the names used in grocery stores vary wildly. I will do my best to explain what to look for.

Thanks to some recent marketing and promotion by some smaller growers in the US, they have become somewhat more common in grocery stores of late, usually marketed under the name Cocktail Grapefruit. They don't have a particularly long season, but store and ship well. Because of this, they do show up in decent numbers as a specialty citrus variety, especially in western North America.

Aside from the relatively small distribution and market, the biggest challenge when it comes to finding mandelos is consistency in naming. They are rarely marketed as mandelos, though you are more likely to encounter that name in and around California. Of the common names, cocktail grapefruit is most frequently encountered, though they often seem to have a name applied somewhat randomly by grocers. I've seen them sold as Chinese grapefruits (which is extremely confusing, as that name is often used for pomelo), grapefruit-oranges, and simply as grapefruit. If you're in doubt about what you're buying, look for the pale green blush on the skin - no other commercially produced grapefruit-sized fruit is golden-yellow with greenish patches (especially around the stem).

Two other citrus fruits (both pomelo/grapefruit hybrids) are worth mentioning in order to avoid confusion. Solid green fruits with a very thick rind are most likely going to be the grapefruit-like citrus known as oroblanco. Melogolds look relatively similar to mandelos, though they have a very different flavour and a far thicker rind. Both oroblancos and melogolds are specialty citrus varieties and tend to be labeled accurately in stores.

CHOOSE - Choosing a mandelo is simple. Look for firm, heavy fruits with unblemished, fragrant skin.

The skin itself may be orange-yellow, often with thin greenish patches. Some green on the skin does NOT indicate that the fruit is under ripe; fully ripe fruits will generally have at least some trace of green, especially around the stem.

PREP - Mandelos are easy to work with, though their numerous small seeds make them a bit trickier than, say, an orange. They are thin-skinned and relatively easy to peel or cut through. However, the membranes surrounding the individual segments are quite thin, making it much more difficult to eat a mandelo the way one might eat a grapefruit (i.e. from a halved fruit with a spoon). If you want to eat the fruit on its own or use large segments for cooking, I recommend either:

• halving the fruit, removing all of the seeds with a small knife, then carefully cutting the segments out, or
• cutting the skin away and preparing the segments in a 'supreme' style, then removing the seeds from the exposed segments.

A reasonable approximation of the flavour of mandelo juice can be had by mixing 2 parts tangerine to 1 part sweet grapefruit juice.

If a tangerine is unavailable, any mild, low-acid orange or mandarin will work.

As for the grapefruit component, a mandelo is closer in flavour to a white grapefruit, but these are often a little more bitter than the pink varieties. You could try using either.