February is celebrated as the month of a lot of food holidays, but the one that many people might not expect is it being National Grapefruit Month. That’s probably because grapefruits have become extremely unpopular over the last few decades.

During the 1970s, it was at its height of popularity and there were 25-pounds of grapefruit eaten by every person in the U.S. Nowadays, there are only 2.5 pounds of grapefruit eaten per person.

Its decline in popularity is attributed to not only people not liking the taste but also to the fact that eating grapefruits can intensify the effects of certain medications.  With that being said, however, there are still plenty of people who love grapefruit, and if you’re one of them, then you might want to celebrate them during this month.

Sweet Facts About Grapefruits

We feel that grapefruits get a bad rap. After all, it was one of the most popular fruits from the 1930s through the 1970s, helped in part by the fad Grapefruit Diet.

That’s why we’ve decided to take it upon ourselves to remind people of what made grapefruits great, and we did that by listing some of the sweet facts that we know about them. Let’s take a quick look at these facts before continuing on with the rest of National Grapefruit Month.

• The grapefruit was named by a Jamaican farmer. He gave it that name because he saw that grapefruits grew in clusters like grapes.
• The Ruby Red Grapefruit was the first variety to receive a U.S patent.
• The Ruby Red Grapefruit was accidentally discovered by a citrus grower in Texas in 1929.
• The Grapefruit Diet is also known as the 18-Day Diet.
• Grapefruits come in one of three colors. They’re either red, pink, or white.
• Even though grapefruit trees can grow to 50-feet, most growers keep them between 15 and 25-feet. This makes them more manageable.
• Grapefruit is hand-picked when it’s ripe.
• Grapefruits are the official fruit of Texas.

Observing National Grapefruit Month

This month is easily observed simply by enjoying some grapefruit with your breakfast. Grapefruit can also be used to make smoothies, placed into salads, used in a glaze for ham or salmon, or made into a sorbet.

People can also use the hashtag #NationalGrapefruitMonth to spread the word about this citrus fruit. However, there are two things that we must warn people about. One, people should keep in mind that grapefruit can accelerate the effects of certain medications, which can be extremely dangerous.

That’s why whenever a person wants to eat grapefruit they should check with their doctor. Another thing is to keep in mind that the Grapefruit Diet is a fad diet, so we recommend people avoid dieting using this method.