The pomelo, pummelo, or in scientific termsCitrus maxima or Citrus grandis, is the largest citrus fruit from the family Rutaceae and the principal ancestor of the grapefruit. It is a natural, i.e., non-hybrid, citrus fruit, native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a large grapefruit, the pomelo is commonly consumed and used for festive occasions throughout Southeast Asia.
Etymology
The etymology of the word "pomelo" derived from Dutch pompelmoes, which is rendered pampelmuse in German, and pamplemousse in French. Its botanical name, Citrus maxima, means "biggest citrus". In English, the word "pomelo" has become the more common name, although "pomelo" has historically been used for grapefruit. After a captain Shaddock of an East India Company ship introduced it to Barbados, the fruit was called "shaddock" in English. From there the name spread to Jamaica in 1696. It remains a common name for the fruit among English authors. The fruit is also known as jabong in Hawaii and jambola in varieties of English spoken in South Asia.
Description and uses
The pomelo tree may be tall, possibly with a crooked trunk thick, and low-hanging, irregular branches. Leaf petioles are distinctly winged, with alternate, ovate or elliptic shapes long, with a leathery, dull green upper finish, and hairy lower leaf. The flowers – single or in clusters – are fragrant and yellow-white in color. The pomelo is a large citrus fruit, in diameter, usually weighing. It has a thicker rind than a grapefruit. Containing 11–18 segments, the flesh tastes like a mild grapefruit. The flesh has little of the common grapefruit bitterness. The enveloping membranous material around the segments is bitter, considered inedible, and usually discarded. There are two varieties: a sweet kind with white flesh, and a sour kind with pinkish flesh, the latter more likely to be used as a ceremony, rather than eaten. The fruit generally contains few, relatively large seeds, but some varieties have numerous seeds. The juice is regarded as delicious, and the rind is used to make preserves or may be candied. In Brazil, the thick skin may be used for making a sweet conserve, while the spongy pith of the rind is discarded. In Sri Lanka, it is often eaten as a dessert, either raw or sprinkled with sugar. Some fatty Asian dishes use sliced pre-soaked pith to absorb the sauce and fat for eating. In large parts of Southeast Asia where pomelo is native, it is a common dessert, often eaten raw and sprinkled with, or dipped in, a salt mixture. It is eaten in salads. In the Philippines, the juice is mixed with pineapple and made into a pink drink. The fruit may have been introduced to China around 100 BC.
Citrus maxima is usually grafted onto other citrus rootstocks, but may be grown from seed. Though the seeds of the pomelo are monoembryonic, producing seedlings identical to their parents, and therefore pomelo is typically grown from seed. Seeds can be stored for 80 days at and with moderate relative humidity. High-quality varieties are propagated by air-layering or by budding onto favored rootstocks. A wide variability in the physical and chemical characteristics of pomelo occurs across southern Asia.
The pomelo is one of the original citrus species from which the rest of cultivated citrus have been hybridized,. In particular, the common orange and the grapefruit are presumed to be naturally occurring hybrids between the pomelo and the mandarin, with the pomelo providing the larger size and greater firmness. The pomelo is employed today in artificial breeding programs:
The common sweet orange is a pomelo × mandarin hybrid
The bitter orange is another pomelo × mandarin hybrid
The tangelo is any hybrid between Citrus maxima and a tangerine, it generally has a thicker skin than a tangerine and is less sweet
* 'K–Early'
Grapefruit is a pomelo backcross: pomelo × sweet orange and the grapefruit is in turn a parent to many hybrids:
Raw pomelo flesh is 89% water, 10% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contains negligible fat. A 100 gram reference amount provides 38 calories, and is rich in vitamin C, with no other micronutrients in significant content.
As a species of citrus, pomelo may cause adverse effects, similar to those caused by grapefruit, through the inhibition of cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism of prescription drugs such as anti-hypertensives and anticoagulants.
