I'm late to a lot
of food-trend parties because I live in the original Middle of
Nowhere and nothing more exotic than an English cucumber ever comes
through the produce section of my grocery store. Imagine my surprise
when I encountered a bowling-ball sized citrus fruit couched among
the lemons and grapefruit. But there it was, a giant moon-colored
fruit piled near its brethren, bearing a strange name.
So I'm probably
late to the pommelo party. There are about thirty-three ways to spell
the name of this fruit which might have something to do with the
fact that I just called it a “pommerang” and had to think several
minutes as to what it was actually called (incidentally, I think the
word I coined was a combination of “boomerang” and “Pomeranian,”
neither of which are anywhere close to correct.)
![]() |
//not my photo// |
I snatched up the
enormous thing and bought it. Because its produce sticker had got
stuck to my sweater, the boy at the checkout had to ask me for the
number of “this giant lemon thing.” Later, in the safety of
twenty-minutes away, I googled what the heck a pommelo was supposed
to be and what it tasted like and how to eat it. Because friends
don't bring UFO's (unidentifiable food objects) into other friends'
kitchens and expect them to be happy about it. Better come informed.
Thankfully, the
friend whose kitchen was hosting my pommelo was completely fine with
it. We sliced into the pommelo's yellow skin, with curiosity at first
and then eagerness. The pale pink pith (think the white part of an
orange) smelled faintly like gardenias while the dark pink flesh
smelled like grapefruit. Pommelo is enormous – probably three times
the size of your average grapefruit. Taste-wise, it falls between a
sweet orange and a grapefruit...if I was hard-pressed for an exact
answer I would say the flavor of a pommelo is like that of a Ruby Red
grapefruit minus any of the bitterness, which puts it into a weird
class of its own. It isn't sour at all, yet its flavor is quite
distinctly citrus.
Google searches on
this fruit turn up results like “quinoa and pommelo salad” and
“pommelo marmalade.” A gardenia-scented, pale-pink marmalade?
Heck yes. After turning the fruit inside out and upside down like
particularly scientific-minded baboons, we devoured the fruit by
“supreming” it with our fingers – the translucent skin of each
section is quite thick and best peeled off, leaving behind thick,
firm segments of the pommelo. I have never seen a fruit that is more
of a “lady-fruit” than the pommelo; from its pale yellow outer
skin to its fragrant, creamy pink pith and the rich, rose-colored
fruit itself, the pommelo is an unexpected mid-winter feast for so
many of the senses. I hope the grocery store still has them next time
I go back – I want to make some marmalade or another batch of
shrub. Take my advice: see a pommelo, buy a pommelo. They're really
quite something. And hey, pssst. You heard it from me.
I've seen pomelo before, but never had the cunning to try one. XD I'm a grapefruit fiend, however, so this is right up my street! I'm going to try one ASAP.
ReplyDeleteA pomelo sounds wonderful, I love grapefruit and anything citrus. So I'm bound to like it, that is a beautiful picture by the way.
ReplyDelete