Giant Grapefruits

Today we ate our first pomelo (also known as Chinese grapefruit, pummelo, pommelo, jabong, boongon, shaddock, Jeruk Bali or suha). Tommy has pronounced it as "the best fruit of all time", which is impressive since he is not ordinarily known for this type of exaggerated praise. Tommy ate the pomelo for breakfast just as one would eat a grapefruit. The pomelo required quite a bit more work than a grapefruit in terms of "de-seeding", though it was apparently worth it as Tommy raved about the not-too-sour flavor.

Tommy's breakfast inspired me to do some wikipedia research (very intensive and thorough) to learn more about the best fruit of all time. This is what I uncovered:

The pomelo is native to Southeast Asia and all of Malaysia, and grows wild on river banks in Fiji, Tonga, and Hawaii. It may have been introduced into China around 100 B.C. It is widely cultivated in southern China (Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Fujian Provinces) and especially in central Thailand on the banks to the Tha Chin River; also in Taiwan and southernmost Japan, southern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Tahiti and the Philippines. It is also grown commercially elsewhere, particularly California, Florida, and Israel.
The pomelo is also known as a shaddock, after an English sea captain, Captain Shaddock, who introduced the seed to the West Indies in the 17th century from the Malay Archipelago. In the Pacific and Asia, it is known as jabong and in Chinese it is called yòuzi (柚子) (not to be confused with the yuzu, which uses the same Chinese characters but is a different species), while it is called som o (ส้มโอ) in Thai, and buntan or banpeiyu in Japanese. In Burmese it is called kywègaw thee in the south and shaupann thee in upcountry.

The pulp colour ranges between clear pale yellow to pink to red, and tastes like a sweet, mild grapefruit. It is the largest citrus fruit, growing as large as 30 cm in diameter and weighing as much as 10 kg; the peel is thick, and is sometimes used to make marmalade.

The tangelo is a hybrid between the pomelo and the tangerine. It has a thicker skin than a tangerine and is less sweet.

The peel of the pomelo is also used in Chinese cooking or candied. In general, citrus peel is often used in southern Chinese cuisine for flavouring, especially in sweet soup desserts.