My aunt who brought me that delicious jackfruit also gave me this pomelo from her trip to Penang. I placed this pomelo, or Chinese grapefruit, on my altar as an offering to the Buddha and conveniently left it there too long.
I have this silly habit of forgetting to eat stuff, if you can believe that! As a result, the pomelo is kinda over-ripe. But never mind, it’s even sweeter and juicier like this.

It’s quite an art peeling open a pomelo. Although it’s technically a citrus fruit, you can’t peel it like an orange because well, it’s the size of a small watermelon.
You need a sharp pointed knife to first cut right across the top of the pomelo about 1 inch down so it opens up like a cap.

To make it easier to peel the rest of the rind off, I have to divide it up into sections. I use the tip of the knife to make 5 or 6 shallow lines from the cut-off top all the way down to about 1 inch from the bottom.
Then from the top of each section, I dig my fingers in and peel downards. Repeat till all the sections are done. The whole thing will look like a flower with petals. Pretty, huh?

That done, I can dislodge the whole fruit from the rind and gently slice it open to reveal the segments. It’s just like an orange inside, so I just segment and pop into a Tupperware for easy storage.

I tend to refrigerate any leftovers because our climate here is so hot. I like it better chilled too. I don’t get to eat pomelos often, only around Chinese New Year because it’s believed to bring prosperity and good fortune.
I could use some of that, sure. So if someone brings me back one from up north (where they’re grown), I’ll gladly take it
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2 Comments so far
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I have never heard of a pomelo before, very interesting! Is is sweet like an orange, or kind of tart and sour like a grapefruit I wonder?
By Carole on 10.08.08 6:49 am | Permalink
There are 2 varieties - sour/tart and sweet. Its taste is milder than a grapefruit’s, much more palatable if you ask me.
By chili queen on 10.08.08 8:25 am | Permalink
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