strange fruit

[truepenny]

The Citrus maxima--pummelo (name derived from the same Dutch word that led to the French pamplemousse for "grapefruit") or, less commonly, shaddock--is huge, wicked hard to get into, and extremely tasty. Like grapefruit, only sweeter.

A very handsome specimen, not unlike the one heres_luck and I consumed tonight, can be seen here.

A Tahitian pummelo tree, and an even more impressive Chinese one (scroll down).

In Cambodia, they sell pummelo on the streets.

Here's a picture that lets you see just how thick the pith is.

And for scale, this page has pictures of a pummelo with a person and (my favorite) a pummelo with a Rottweiler.

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you for the review! I've been seeing them in the supermarket and dithering over trying one - I've been disappointed by some other exotic fruits that turned out to be more or less flavorless.

I think I'll buy one next time I go shopping.

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

I must try one.

I believe that most citrus fruit originally had very thick rinds. I've seen prints of cut oranges dating from probably early to mid 19th century, in which the pulp space is tiny. I imagine our current oranges, which are mostly pulp with very little rind, are the result of intensive breeding for that result.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

(name derived from the same Dutch word that led to the French pamplemousse for "grapefruit")

Huh. I always thought that pompelmoes came from the French. The online Dutch dictionary I know of (www.vandale.nl) doesn't have any derivations at all. Very sad.