A grapefruit is a large citrus fruit with a thick, yellow or pink skin and tangy, slightly bitter flesh inside. It's bigger than an orange, about the size of a softball, and gets its name because grapefruits grow in clusters on trees, hanging together like giant grapes.

When you cut a grapefruit in half, you'll see it's divided into segments like an orange, but the taste is quite different: sharper, more sour, and with a distinctive bitterness that some people love and others find too intense. The flesh can be pale yellow, pink, or deep ruby red depending on the variety. Many people sprinkle sugar on top to balance the tartness, or eat it for breakfast with a special serrated spoon designed to scoop out the juicy segments.

Grapefruits are packed with vitamin C and have a refreshing, wake-you-up quality that makes them popular in the morning. The fruit was first described in Barbados in the 1700s, probably as a natural cross between an orange and a pomelo (an even larger citrus fruit). Today, much of the world's grapefruit supply comes from Florida, Texas, and California.