Pomelos

[californicus]

Interesting. I only heard this from some gardeners here and not verified it myself. The dependence of acidity aka lack of sweetness on climate/heat is well established for pomelos and grapefruits. Same is true for chill and pigmentation in blood oranges.

As for citrus rootstocks, I was mostly interested in the influence of interstem as I want to multi-graft my citrus trees. There wasn’t any reliable information in the literature. I only heard conflicting (anecdotal) information from the local gardeners. One member mentioned his citrus varieties grafted on mandarin trees were sweeter compared to the same ones grafted on oranges. Of course, there could be many confounders like location of host trees, micro-climate, vigor, etc. Others didn’t see the same difference.

[JeremiahT]

@Amy_mtl

I have a fruit on my young Tahitian pummelo and I live in Canada.

Neat! I’ve got one here in Kentucky. Not the biggest pomelo of all time, but I’ll take it!

I think it’s ripening. How do you tell peak ripeness in a pomelo? I’ve never eaten one. Hope it’ll at least give me an approximation of pomelo flavor. My grow room is around 85F during the day, and seldom goes below 70F at night.

[mamuang]

I’d look at a change of its skin color. The lighter green skin, the better. Some can turn slightly pale yellow.

[JeremiahT]

Thanks @mamuang! This one is pale green mottled with light yellow—kind of hard to tell in the picture. It’s my only one so I’m a little nervous about picking it!

[mamuang]

I would rather pick it late than too early. Most pomelos sold were picked early (like most fruit). If you can afford to wait, why not?

[aap]

This is a Valentine pomelo, thin skin, right color, pinkish twin color. Very juicy, sweet, very good tasting. Can go wrong. ThongDee is twice as big, I like best.

[Luisport]

Just marvelous!

[Amy_mtl]

Wow! It looks wonderful Bob. Does it have a berry taste like a moro blood orange?

[aap]

It’s very tasty, got a light tropical taste, something like a lychee. It’s refreshing.

[jujubemulberry]

Kentucky pomelo! Deserves a photoshoot article on your local newspaper’s home-and-garden section as probably the only one in your state

[Amy_mtl]

Now I am more excited than ever to get my Valentine pummelo Bob!

[jujubemulberry]

both are great, but the pomelo wrapped in pink is better than the one wrapped in white.

Pomelo pulp is the least juicy of all citrus, but for some reason find it the most refreshing of all.

[murky]

Seems juicier than kumquat or Buddha’s palm, but I take your point.

[aap]

That’s not what I experienced, the ones I grow are just the opposite.

[jujubemulberry]

there are many varieties of pomelos, and some are very juicy while others are quite firm and dry, especially when ripened on the tree.

[disc4tw]

This one was purchased at a local Asian food store, yellow flesh and a bit dry but quite good. It stored for over a week once opened in the fridge.

[smsmith]

It would appear that at least some of you enjoyed bringing this thread back to the top after 2 years of zero responses
We are back in SW FL now and picked up a couple more pomelos. I have no idea what variety/cultivar they are. I am still a bit stumped on how best to peel/section/eat them, but I am still enjoying them.

[disc4tw]

I halved ours, then pulled each slice out after cutting more pith to access it, cleaned seeds and removed the good stuff to eat each slice. It was bitter like a grapefruit if we ate the outer pith.

[aap]

My last pomelo, ThongDee, super large fruit, another keeper, very juicy, the biggest one, refreshing too.

[JeremiahT]

Finally harvested my little Tahitian pomelo. Had a very unusual fragrance—unlike any citrus I’d ever smelled: assertively citrusy, but with vegetal and perfume-like notes. Removing the peel proper wasn’t too difficult, but the bitter pith really clung to the slices. Flavor was pleasant, strong, quite acid, with some sweetness in the finish, very much like a lemony grapefruit. Rather juicy. Shared it with family; everyone liked it. It was the first pomelo any of us had ever eaten.