segmenting citrus

Often when you read in a recipe to ‘segment’ a grapefruit or orange or any kind of citrus for that matter, this doesn’t as many believe just mean to peel the fruit and remove the segments. It actually refers more to ‘filleting’ the fruit, as in you are segmenting the fruit but only taking the premium flesh within the segments, leaving behind all the fruits pith, pulp, skin, rind and seeds.

What you'll need
A piece of citrus
A sharp small to medium cooks knife
A sharp paring knife, (ideally straight edged)

What to do
Peel the fruit with the cook’s knife, ensuring that you remove the membrane around the back of the segments. The best way to do this is to peel the fruit with a knife with the fruit standing on a chopping board.

Then hold the fruit in your non-dominant hand, and carefully align the paring knife on the back of the segment right next to the membrane that separates that segment from its neighbour and cut towards the centre of the fruit

Then repeat this on the other side of the segment and the fillet should come free.
Repeat this to each segment around the fruit and you will have properly ‘segmented’ a piece of citrus.