juice becomes bitter on standing. Some
grapefruit phenolic compounds turn out to
interfere with our metabolism of certain
drugs, cause the drugs to persist longer in the
body, and thus cause the equivalent of an
overdose, so medicine labels sometimes warn
against consuming grapefruit or its juice
along with the medicine. (These same
phenolics are now being developed into
activity-boosting drug ingredients.)
Grapefruits have an especially complex
aroma, which includes meaty and musky
sulfur compounds.
Lime Limes are the most acidic of the citrus
fruits, as much as 8% of their weight coming
from citric acid. The small, seedy Mexican or
Key lime, C. aurantifolia, is the standard sour
citrus fruit in the tropics, where lemons don’t
grow well. In western Asia it’s sun-dried
whole, then ground and used as an aromatic,
somewhat musty acidifier. The larger,