I’m not much of a fan of tools that do just ONE thing. If you’re gonna take up real estate on my counter or in one of my kitchen drawers, you better “pay for your keep.” That’s why I’m always excited to find other uses for tools I already have, particularly a simple and easy-to-clean tool. Experimentation gave me these 3 surprisingly powerful uses for a grapefruit spoon.
I loved grapefruit as a kid. My dad would cut one in half, cut each section between the pulp and the peel, then again between the pulp and each side of the membrane. Then he’d top each half with brown sugar and broil. I LOVED this! When I did this for my kids, I found the cutting just took so much time it took the joy out of it for me.
Now that I knew such as thing as a grapefruit spoon existed, I went in search of one.
A set of 4 was ridiculously cheap at my local store (can’t find them there now but there are several choices like this one on Amazon – paid ad) But then I started balking at having this very specialized tool. I had to find more ways to use these…and I did!
Removing the “flesh”
Of course, these little gems remove the flesh from grapefruit, but what about other fruits or veggies? My son stumbled on how well they work on kiwi when fixing himself a snack one day. “Hey, Mom,” he called, “Come look at this!” He had sliced off a little from each end, then slid the spoon inside the skin, gently rotating the fruit to loosen it from the skin. Amazing! So, of course, I grabbed my camera (who knew my CAMERA would ALSO become a kitchen tool! Hahaha) to share his technique.
Avocados are another good one to attack with this smart little tool. If you’re making guacamole and want to make sure you get all the green goodness from your avocados, simply scoop out the flesh, scraping the skin to get the last bits. If you’re wanting perfect avocado slices instead, check out the best way to do that here.
Stuffing baked potatoes or making twice-baked potatoes? That’s right…grab your trusty grapefruit spoon! Once your potatoes are cooked to tender, slice in half and use the teeth of the grapefruit spoon to scoop out the flesh to mash. You control how much you leave ON the skin; so, this also works if you decide you want to make potato skins!
Removing the skin
In some cases, that skin is thin and fragile. So, it works better to simply scrape it away from the “flesh” (instead of the other way around). When I recently made salt & vinegar potato salad for my snacks (thanks shutterbean.com), I found this trusty tool is equally good at removing the thinner skin of the smaller variety potatoes. Once they were boiled, it was super quick and easy to scrape the skin off and get on with my salad-making!
Another thin skin? On ginger root! This is a “must have” ingredient in my house as I love Asian flavors. A friend gave me a HUGE HAND of ginger once, and I found then that the “fingers” are super easy to freeze and later grate or chop. (Make sure you break your ginger root into the smaller fingers BEFORE freezing! You may not be able to do it AFTER…yep, I tried it.)
You can use a knife to remove the skin, but you’ll lose too much of the root “flesh” that way. You can also grate the skin with the flesh. But I prefer to just give a scrape with my grapefruit spoon. Super simple and it’s done!
Removing the seeds
Melons where the seeds are all together in the middle are first in this area. They come out fairly easy already, but a couple of scrapes with the teeth of the grapefruit spoon will clean ‘em out quick quick. Of course, if you cut them with my method (check it out here), you may not even need to scoop out the seeds (sometimes they fall right off!).
Making zucchini or cucumber boats? Whisk those seeds out and go to stuffing those boats!
Hard squashes are a different story. For some reason, those seeds are VERY tenacious…and their strings hold on for dear life…but they’re not much fun in your teeth…ugh. So, cut your squash in half, and go to scraping. You’ll see a color difference between the strings and the flesh (even in spaghetti squash). This helps you know when you’re done. (For more detailed instructions, go here.)
My grapefruit spoon is my trusty sidekick
As you can see, I’m grabbing a grapefruit spoon at least every other day. Whether taking off the outside or scooping flesh or seeds from the inside, those little teeth pack a powerful punch. Treat yourself…grapefruit spoons are a cheap investment that will pay off again and again.
Got a tool YOU’ve discovered different uses for? Share the love in the comments below!
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