Grapefruit juice is delicious and healthy to drink. Just like many other fruit juices, you can squeeze fresh grapefruits to make a tasty batch of grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice provides our body with various nutrients and it can be added to our breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal plans.
Not everyone is interested in squeezing the juice from fresh grapefruits; some people prefer to simply pick up a couple cartons of grapefruit juice from the store.
If you’re at the store and your favorite grapefruit juice brand is being sold at a discount price, you may be tempted to buy in bulk. Besides, it’ll be good to have enough grapefruit juice at home to last for a significantly long time.
When you intend to stock up on grapefruit juice, or any other food item, you must have thought about how you’d preserve it. There are even times when you have leftover juice because you bought more than you can finish at once. So, what do you do?
At this point you may now be wondering: can you freeze grapefruit juice? Yes, you can freeze grapefruit juice. Fresh grapefruit juice will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months. There are different approaches to freezing your grapefruit juice – make sure you follow the right steps when freezing the grapefruit juice. Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice shouldn’t be left out at room temperature for too long before placing it in the freezer for long-term preservation.
Grapefruit juice can also be kept in the fridge for some short-term preservation. Your leftover grapefruit juice can be left in the fridge for about 7 – 10 days.
Freezing Grapefruit Juice
Thankfully, freezing is effective enough to preserve fresh grapefruit juice for up to 4 months. This means that you can buy some fresh grapefruits when they’re in season, and squeeze out a batch of the most delicious grapefruit juice for yourself to preserve and use on later dates.
Store-bought grapefruit juice would have a best before date printed on its carton. The juice will be able to last for quite some time as long as the carton remains unopened. However, once it is opened, you must freeze it till the next time you need it.
The best temperature to freeze grapefruit juice is at 0⁰F. At this temperature, the original taste and consistency of the juice will be well preserved over the next couple of months.
How to Freeze Grapefruit Juice
There are some easy steps to follow when freezing grapefruit juice. You can either freeze grapefruit juice in a plastic container or freeze it in ice cube trays for better measurement accuracy. Here are the best steps for you:
Freezing Grapefruit Juice in Plastic Container
Grapefruit juice freezes nicely inside plastic containers. However, it is best to make use of a container that isn’t too large for the amount of juice you want to freeze. If you actually have a lot of the juice to freeze, grab more than one plastic container and share the juice into each of them. Further instructions include:
- Select the Freshest Grapefruit to Squeeze – The freshest grapefruit juice will yield the best result after being frozen for a while and defrosted for consumption. Those who prefer to squeeze their own grapefruit juice at home will need to pick out the freshest grapefruits.
I advise you to get your grapefruits while they are in their peak season. Not only are in-season grapefruits fresh, but they’re also cheap. Some of the freshest grapefruit can be gotten from November through June.
- Fill the Plastic Containers with Grapefruit Juice and Leave Space for Expansion – start filling the needed plastic containers with grapefruit juice. You will need to be careful when filling the bottles. Do not fill the bottles to the brim. There has to be some space between the liquid and the bottle cap.
If there isn’t any space in the bottle, the grapefruit juice could expand in the freezer and leak out of the container. However, you must not leave too much air space in the bottle to avoid facilitated bacteria growth – you may vacuum some of the air out of the container before freezing.
- Tightly Seal the Container’s Cap – Seal the cap of the plastic container tightly and store it inside the freezer till a later date. You should write the current date on the container so that you can always know exactly how long the grapefruit juice has been frozen for.
Freezing Grapefruit Juice in Ice Cube Trays
Grapefruit juice can be frozen in ice cube trays for a couple of benefits. For instance, freezing grapefruit juice in ice cube trays makes it much easier and faster to defrost. The measured quantity of the juice in each cube also makes it possible to know exactly how much grapefruit juice to use in a recipe. Further instructions include:
- Fill the ice cube tray with grapefruit juice and place inside the freezer to pre-freeze.
- After about 1 or 2 hours, check to see if the cubes are solidly frozen. After that, take them out of the freezer and start transferring them into a freezer-safe bag.
- Remove as much air as possible from inside the freezer bag and seal it off tightly.
- Write the present date on the bag with a marker and keep the pre-frozen grapefruit juice in the freezer till a later date.
How to Defrost Frozen Grapefruit Juice
Frozen grapefruit juice will eventually be taken out of the freezer to use. If you’re using the juice as part of a cooking recipe, you can just toss the frozen cubes in with the rest of the other ingredients without first defrosting it. However, if the recipe requires the frozen grapefruit juice to be thawed, you can make use of the fridge to thaw the juice.
Simply put the juice in the refrigerator and leave it to sit there for about 12 hours – yes, the wait time is long and it is best done overnight. The faster alternative to your fridge is to submerge the plastic container of grapefruit juice in a bowl of room temperature water. Leave the container submerged in the water till the juice has completely thawed out.