Pomelo, anyone?

Since quite a few people here are willing to try different/new fruit, I would ilke to suggest you try pomelos. Some call it pommelo, others call it pummelo.

It is related to grapefruit, of course. Pomelos are usually sweet and refreshing. To me, grapefruit is sour and tart. It is one of the fruit I can live without.

Several American relatives and friends of mine who like grapefruit love pomelos when they try the fruit.

To eat it, I trim off the skin first. Then, I wash my hands to get rid of bitter oil from the skin. After that, I spilt the fruit in half by hand, peel the white stuff off section by section. It sounds labor-intensive but it is the way we eat it.

I guess you can cut it like grapefruit but juice will run all over.

My husband bought these from Costco. They are big. I put an apple and a persimmon for comparison. The inside can be red or off white depending on the varieties.

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Yes, I liked them better than grapefruits. Last week I bought 4 at the Asian market for 75 cents a piece.

Tony

It is never that cheap here. Always costs more than $1 a piece. That is why we buy from Costco as it is cheaper.

I always eat them when I go to Thailand. Maybe 1 lb or so after lunch each day. Yum.

Murky,
Have you tried durian when You were there? Just wonder what you think about it.

Bonus fact: pomelos are one of the few non-hybrid citrus fruits. Most everything we’re familiar with is a cross of other species (citrus seems to hybridize readily).

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among citrus, pomelo’s are my favorite.
as with tamarinds, which was just brought up earlier in another thread, there are juicy-drippy pomelos, just as there are dry-types. Pulp color varies from yellow-green to dark pink, and it depends on my mood which to eat— if i have the luxury of choice that is, and i currently don’t :sob:

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No one I know likes the dry type.

The thick skin/rind is used to make candied pomelo rind.

I grew them and got fruit for awhile. Seems like it might have been a hybrid with a grapefruit the nursery said. It was delicious.

i see what you’re saying, the juicy ones generally have more character, while the dry-types are typically bland. But there are a few outstanding dry types which have unique flavors not exhibited on the juicy ones, and quite sweet and mild(or not overpowering) that i tend to eat several times more per unit time.

also, being dry and quite manageable, and not sticky-drippy, i put the segments into a big-bowl and eat them like popcorn!

I haven’t tried Thai durian but I’ve tried them from Malaysia in Singapore a couple of times. The Thai durian is purported to be much more mild, maybe I could tolerate them.

I’d describe the eating experience as something like a mix of peach, onion, rotten animal flesh, and noxious chemicals. But I can’t tolerate truffle oil either, it tastes like bad chemicals to me.

The good thing about eating durian is it is excuse to enjoy the antidote - mangosteen.

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Murky,

I personally like durian varieties that have firmer texture and not fully ripe to the mshy when ripe varieties. The firmer ones also have milder smell :slight_smile:

WhenI was a tour guide there, I noticed that many tourists from Singapore, Hong Kong and China liked fully ripe, very soft durians. They have a strong smell. It also could be that those varieties are chaeper and more available.

Durian is really an acquired taste. My husband does not mind the smell but dislike the texture.

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I had a large Chandler pommelo tree in my greenhouse for several yrs. My only issue with the tree and the reason I cut it down, too vigorous. The fruit was good but not great. Very juicy and fun but slow to eat. Yield was high.

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live citrus plants are difficult to import into usa, especially nowadays, if it is even possible.

quite unfortunate that pomelos cleared for release by quarantine weren’t the best ones.

The set of four we bought has a label saying Produce of USA. The large one weighs 46.8oz. the smallest weighs 34.3 oz. probably are grown in Florida. The first one we ate was very good.

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seriously doubt if usda still permits importation of fresh citrus, especially pomelos, which often bear grotesque shapes/bumpy fruits.
strangely, the best-tasting ones i have had are the obscure and unnamed weird-shaped varieties.

here’s a pic found on the web, and quite elated that seemingly, some of the less attractive but better-tasting pomelos have been grandfathered into hawaii.

Apart from being warty and ugly, the superb pomelo varieties have matte complexions, and not smooth and glossy.

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The ugly ones were the kind I grew up with.

I guess people like the look so new varieties go for look/attractiveness. Just like any fruit on the market, taste is often sacrificed.

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Here’s a pomelo tree growing in the backyard of my Chinese grandmother (located in the greater LA area). Those things get big.

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They are delicious!

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