So true. I’ve bought the big nice looking ones a few times and to me they were simliar to a grapefruit but bland. Good to know that there are better ones than the ones I’ve had.
Also not all grapefruit are the same. I’ve picked an ugly ripe grapefruit from a tree that was far superior to any I’ve bought at a store.
many of those ugly ones are the best!
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yeah, the smooth glossy ones are either bland or with a strong bitter/metallic taste
I love pummelos. They are like good-tasting grapefruit to me. The one that mamuang is showing in her photo cut open is a Chandler. They are the most common commercial variety grown here in California, and our climate is extremely well-suited for growing the Chandler. Even though it’s the most common pummelo out there, for me, it is the best. I have several varieties in my orchard, but it is the Chandler that is my favorite. It is also the largest. Some will get almost as big a volleyball. We have to put 5 or 10 gal buckets under the fruit so the branches don’t break on our young trees. Right on the heels of the Chandler, as far as favorites is the incredible Valentine pummelo (hybrid). It is a hybrid of a mandarin, a blood orange and a pummelo (Dancy mandarin, Ruby blood orange, and some Chinese pummelo cultivar). It ripens at the end of February/beginning of March, and you can taste all 3 citrus cultivars in the fruit. Steve, this might be a good choice to replace your Chandler. A little less vigorous, and really, really exceptional fruit. I also have Mato Buntan and Sarawak. Mato Buntan is a naturally dwarfing tree, which I find very interesting for a pummelo, as they usually are really BIG trees. The Sarawak (Tahitian) has an interesting flavor. Very mild, and almost has a melon taste to it.
Now, as with grapefruit, if you are on certain types of statins, you cannot eat pummelos. If that is something you really miss - grapefruits, pummelos, tangelos - then ask your doc to switch your statin to Crestor. Crestor (Rosuvastatin) will not interact with those citrus.
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yeah, the statins.
Sad that eating healthy stuff as pomelos and grapefruit is bad when one is on statins.
You just never know what you will learn on this site. I love grapefruit but have backed off due to taking a satin drug. On one of my doctors visits I had mentioned to him that I was getting really sore after playing tennis. He switched me over to crestor and the soreness has mostly gone away. Thanks for sharing, Bill
VERY good you mentioned this to your doctor, Bill. And you have a very sharp doc. One of the (potentially serious) side effects with some statins is myalgia (muslce pain) which in rare cases can lead to a couple of very serious conditions: rhabdomyolysis and autoimmune myopathy. As we get older, we tend to ignore those “aches and pains”, but, if you find yourself saying things like, “gosh, I don’t remember being so sore after playing tennis/working out at the gym/jogging”, and you’re on a statin, you need to let your doctor know right away. Usually folks will notice this mostly in their leg muscles and back muscles, but it can occur anywhere/everywhere in your muscles. This sort of pronounced to severe myalgia is grounds for discontinuing a statin. Very glad you’ve switched to Crestor, and now you can enjoy grapefruits and pummelos, again! Of course, always run this by your doc (have to say that, of course, since I am not your doctor), to make sure they’re okay with it.
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HQ please take pictures of your pummelos when they are on your tree! Cannot wait to see them.
the catch 22 with statins is that it has the side effects of muscle pain/weakness/tiredness, on top of insulin resistance. This could then invariably lead to lack of exercise, and thus further lead to subsequent unfavorable cholesterol profiles… It is an insidious loop that induces, well-- a dependence on statins!
The healthiest, cheapest, and safest way with zero side effects is to aim at getting involved with plenty tennis/gardening/exercise etc, as there is always the optimistic likelihood one could do away with statins altogether.
and one could have pomelo and eat it too 
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Agreed, dependence on prx drugs for health is a plague on our country. Wellness is the key and exercise is the biggest factor. I’ve got a friend 20 yrs younger than me in extremely dire straits due to 9 yrs taking multiple potent prx drugs.
Well, if someone is experiencing muscle pain while on statins, that will be grounds for immediate discontinuance of the statin, so I doubt this scenario would play out, juju. Muscle pain is a symptom of muscle damage, so doctors will stop the statin immediately. when those symptoms arise. So no chance of this scenario being long-term enough to cause increased inactivity 
in the absence of muscle pain, mild lassitude and mild insulin resistance may be side effects which, although minor and hardly detectable, could be cumulative, aside from being counter-intuitive.
drugs should be the last resort, as maintaining body weight, getting plenty exercise, and eating healthy food are still the best options. Physicians nowadays are a little too polite(or worried they will appear to have bad beside manners), or too lazy, to tell patients that they should try losing weight first.
that is really sad. The problem with many drugs is that the immediate side effects are typically what fda could catch and raise the alarm for, but the long-term or cumulative side effects could only be addressed too late.
only after the unforeseen signs and symptoms start manifesting and correlated in retrospect, requiring a signficant population of people using the drug. Which means many will already be ‘damaged goods’
Juju, all good doctors have this conversation with their patients, first. How important it is to have a healthy llfestyle, maintain a healthy weight, etc. But, it is the old adage, “You can drag a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.” Often the doc will strike a bargain with the patient, “Okay, I’ll give you 1, 2, 3 months to lose 10, 20, 30 lbs.” If you haven’t, I have to prescribe a statin, because you are risking stroke or heart attack." Even with some people, their genetics are such, that even at very healthy weights, you will still have elevated cholesterol levels, enought to threaten your well-being. Just ask Frank Shorter about that. My doctor is not polite. He is very frank. Both my husband and I are athletes. Our doctor is an athlete (triatholon athlete). We are all in our late 50’s to late 60’s (doc is a bit older than us). So, he even has this conversation with us, because both my husband and I are 1/2 Italian and our genetics makes us predisposed to hypercholesteremia. As a nurse, let me tell you, it is very hard to manage non-compliant patients. Those patients will lie on either side of the spectrum - those that will NOT take drugs that may save their lives, and those that take drugs, but do not come in for regular check ups, and cumulative damage can occur, even with their doctor’s trying to help them. Some docs will even stop the refills, saying, “Look, if you want to stay on this med, you’ve GOTTA get in here so I can run tests to make sure you’re not having any issues.” As with statins, to check liver health and muscle health. So, it’s not a black and white issue, here. Drugs are not the “bad guys”. Frankly, it is our sedentary lifestyle and poor diets that are adults’ main culprits. That, combined with some bad genetics can spell a very unhealthy lifestyle. There is a degree of responsibility patients have to assume. It is easy to blame the doctors and the drugs, but truly, I can tell you the majority of the issues you are bringing up are due to patient non-compliance. I have some degree of perspective, here, being a nurse for over 30 years and having developed and run a community wellness program.
So, let’s call this the end of the side-tracked conversation, and get back to talking about how yummy pummelos are, shall we?
i agree.
hypercholesterolemia does occur even among the fit if they have the genes, so was pertaining to those who are not genetically predisposed, since they are the majority.
you betcha!
and yes, admittedly i got side-tracked.
Patty,
Thank you for letting us know the variety of this pomelo. I thought they were from Florida. It tastes good and the color is also pretty.
I grew up eating the greenish/white flesh ones.
I thought pummelos were commonly grown, particularly in FL. I hadn’t thought of them as being neglected or uncommon. It looks like people are less familiar with them than I’d thought. Nice to see ‘pummelo awareness’ being advanced.
Pummelos are gorgeous pieces of fruit, real showstoppers visually. They just aren’t very high on my list in terms of the prep and eating. Maybe I just haven’t had one yet that was worth the effort. I seem to recall pummelos being bitter and not as juicy as other citrus --folks added sugar to them IIRC when I was a kid.
MrClint,
Pomelo is like mild grapefruit that is really sweet without any bitterness. The skin and membrane are bitter. Don’t eat those parts. The beauty of pomelo is you can easily peal off the membrane and the individual pulp cell walls have enough integrity to keep the whole segment intact and dry.
In Thailand they are commonly available fully prepped and ready to eat. mmm, refreshing.
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I find this article very interesting: