The Pummelo
I love discovering new fruits and vegetables. I’m pretty adventurous with it, and have found some new favorites through the process. Which, on its own can be frustrating at times. In the summer of 2005 Kaylee and I tried and fell in love with a sprite melon. We ate one in Montgomery, Alabama, and one in San Antonio, Texas. Since then, we have been unable to find them anywhere. But, as soon as melon season comes around, I start hunting for them.
My newest discovery was a pummelo. Shopping in Whole Foods last week, I saw a large display of them. They caught my eye because they’re huge – easily double the size of a large grapefruit, if not more.
It smelled like a grapefruit, so I bought one and took it home.
Here it is next to a baseball-sized orange so that you can see the size comparison.
The pummelo is native to Asia but is now grown in many tropical climates. I’m surprised I never discovered it during all of my years in Florida.
The rind is thick and has a thick layer of pith between it and the fruit.
The taste is kind of like a non-bitter, sweet grapefruit. It will definitely grace my table in the next citrus salad I make for a breakfast or a brunch.
It was good to eat alone, just as a snack. But in my quest to discover what there is to know about the pummelo, I came across several recipes that included avocado. So, I decided to create a Pummelo Avocado Salsa. It was really, really good.
Also during my research, I discovered that the Chinese often make Candied Pummelo Rinds. These were very good and definitely something that I will be making again.
All in all, a wonderful discovery!
Hallee
I’m so grateful for your visit, today.
You would bless me if you added me to your feed reader or subscribed
via email.
You can also become a fan on Facebook or follow me on
Twitter. I would love to see more of you!

How fun!!! Living in New Orleans I learned of a new vegetable this year that I had NEVER heard of before – Mirlitons. Have you ever heard of these? They are kind of like a squash and people either make a casserole or stuff them (kind of like stuffed bell peppers). They were delicious!
They will definitely be gracing my table every Thanksgiving!
Thanks for sharing with us this fun adventure!
I’ve never heard of it – I’ll keep my eye out for it. If I can’t find it here -we love New Orleans – I’ll look for it next time we’re there!
A friend of mine, Christina, said I needed to read the blog of one of her friends, so here I am! I love pummelo! And last winter I candied our organic grapefruit peels, which my husband went crazy over. This look yummy….and chance you’d share the salsa recipe?
And then I went back and saw the next post! Yay!
i may actually have to try this someday! i see them but never courageous enough to try it!
Wow…another fruit fanatic? I love weird stuff like this. We actually had a pommelo tree when I was growing up in Arizona. The fruits grew so heavy my dad used to make a sling for them so they wouldn’t break the branches. Good eating.
We try to get a pamelo or 2 every Christmas time since my husband and I got married. Christmas of 2000 my husband got to go to China and had them there. Thanks for the reminder to look for them here.
These were a great snack at the office. I followed your recipe exactly and it turned out really well. I shared them with a few co-workers and they’re addicted! They asked me for your recipe and I directed them to your website. Thank you so much for sharing!