I finally broke down last week and picked up one of those large, lemon-on-steroids shaped fruit with the oddly reminiscent smell of grapefruit, sold singly in an orange veggie sack. It could be that I simply needed a topic for my next column, but I prefer to think that I really wanted to get to the bottom of the burning question: Why do we need the pomelo?

[Cue the music from Concentration.]

Times up, and I’m not certain that I can give anyone a convincing reason for trying one of these oddities, when there are bags of delicious ruby-red grapefruit readily available, but at least I can tell you something about it.

The pomelo—which also goes by the names and alternate spellings: pummelo, pommelo, shaddock, Chinese grapefruit, pamplemousse, Citrus maxima, or Citrus grandis, is the largest member of the citrus family. Native to Malaysia and China, it is now grown in Israel, the Caribbean, California, and Florida. It continues, however, to be cultivated and consumed predominately in China and Indonesia.

The fruit can grow to the size of a small watermelon. (Try to picture an orchard of trees with watermelons hanging from them…Run!) The outer rind, although soft and easy to peel, is very thick, and the membrane inside this can be up to an inch thick. It takes awhile to get to the edible part of the pomelo. The flesh is quite variable; it can be yellowish-green to rosy-pink; tart or sweet; dry or juicy. The flavour is much like a grapefruit but more floral and the original fruit had a lot of seeds; seeds that would make a huge impact on the vegetation of the Caribbean.

The Caribbean, back in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, was like one big green house waiting for early explorers and settlers to bring seeds that would eventually grow so well, we sometimes forget that the fruit we see there are often relative new-comers to the islands.

When a British sailor, Captain Shaddock, first brought the seeds of the pomelo with him in the 17^th century, the orange was already firmly established from earlier trips by Columbus and the Spanish sailors.

The pomelo grew rapidly in this Eden, but it also liked to spread its seed around a bit, and soon—a century or so later—a new fruit began making its appearance: yellowish-green fruit that looked like small pomelos, but grew in clusters on branches like grapes. These fruit would be called “grapefruit.” It has been speculated that they were the result of a natural cross-pollination with the sweet orange. The grapefruit was a hit with its easier to peel rind and easier to separate segments.

There were so many of these cross-pollinations and back-crosses going on, that the lineage of many of the citrus fruit in the Caribbean is sometimes debatable. It sounds like something from Anne Rice’s, The Witching Hour: no one can say for certain who begat whom!

The pomelo also became grandfather to the tangelo. This cross between the tangerine orange and grapefruit was cultivated because it is sweeter than the grapefruit, easier to peel than the orange, and it has no seeds.  The Ugli fruit, a fruit that didn’t appear in Jamaica until the early 1900’s, and yet is often considered a native species, is most likely the offspring of the grapefruit and the tangerine with a bit of the old pomelo thrown in. This rather potent fruit has spawned many of the more familiar citrus fruit we enjoy in North America.

Until recently, you would only find a pomelo in an Asian food market. The pomelo has remained an important food for the Chinese. Because it has such a thick rind, it is ideal for making candied rind and used in making soups and sauces. I can tell you first hand that the rind of the pomelo definitely has a more delicate flavour, and doesn’t burn the eyes like a grapefruit peel when you bite into it. (How else are you supposed to start to peel these fruit?)

The Chinese hold the pomelo in high esteem, giving it mystical properties. The skins of the pomelo are thought to drive away evil spirits when used in a bath, and the fruit is considered important as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune when eaten on the Chinese New Year.

The pomelo has been grown in California for some time, largely for the North American-Chinese market, but now there is a surge of pomelo interest in more mainstream markets. California growers are developing new varieties of the fruit to make them sweeter, more complex flavoured, and with less seeds, but still retaining that signature asymmetrical shape. The question is why we are now interested in or feel the need for the pomelo?

It comes down to marketing and the consumer’s interest in anything new and exciting, especially in the dreary, winter produce market. The California growers are gambling on this and growing and promoting new varieties of the fruit. Many of these new varieties of pomelo are actually developed by crossing the grapefruit back with the pomelo.

These varieties include: Siamese Sweet, a California- born pomelo with white flesh, few seeds, and a faintly bitter flavour, now grown in Thailand; Wainwright, a California fruit with a lemon-lime coloured rind that is easy to peel and a pleasant flavour but heavily seeded (That sounds like the one I bought here at the Village Food Market.); Pandan Wangi, “an outstanding pomelo from Java with thick rind, blush red pulp, many seeds… (and with) juice of a complex flavour that is pleasant and sweet with a hint of lime.”  You get the drift; you could become a pomelo snob!

The fruit is best eaten raw; as with the grapefruit, cooking ruins its flavour and texture. It can be used in any place you would use grapefruit, especially cold seafood salads with citrus dressings, or just eaten segment by segment as a nutritious snack. Like grapefruit, it is loaded with vitamin C.

All I can say is that you should at least try a pomelo once. At least you will have satisfied your curiosity, and you might find that you prefer the flavour to a grapefruit. If you are into making marmalade, you will definitely love the thick rind. “Pomelo Marmalade” could be a great new marketing idea for the upcoming Farmers’ market season.