Texas style jack o' lantern

October 30, 2009

In Texas it’s hard to keep a jack o’ lantern looking fresh for very long. About an hour after carving the flies arrive and the heat starts to melt the pumpkin into a slump. Within a couple of days it’s caving in on itself in a sort of gelatinous lump. It dawned on me that pumpkins aren’t really a southern kind of thing so I looked around to see just what native fruit or veggie I could use as a substitute. In the grocery stores I came upon a mountain of Texas grown Ruby Red grapefruits which are as beautiful as they are delicious. Last year we had made little oil lamps out of our cast off orange rinds and this year I decided to bump it up a notch.

Lo and behold our Ruby Red, fresh from the Rio Grande Valley, grapefruit jack o’ lanterns.

Step 1:

Cut off the top of the grapefruit, in a similar manner to cutting off the top of a pumpkin.

Step 2:

Run a sharp paring knife along the inside of the grapefruit between the fruit and the rind. Go along the sides and the bottom too.

Step 3:

With a spoon, scoop out the insides as best you can. Put it in a bowl for your eating pleasure.

Step 4:

Put a small votive in and light or do steps 5-7

Step 5:

Using the tab from a soda can, tie a piece of wick around the middle of the tab leaving about a half inch of wick sticking up from the top.

Step 6:

Place the tab, wick up, in the bottom center of the grapefruit.

Step 7:

Pour in about an inch or so of vegetable oil or any other kind of cooking oil you might have handy.

Step 8:

Light and enjoy the show!

Posted in Tutorials