pomello time

It is pomello season and I couldn’t be happier about it. I associate these with Chinese New Year, since they are out at the same time of the year. In fact we used to call them Chinese grapefruit. I was able to enjoy this one before my hand surgery – it’s a bit of a two-handed challenge. For anyone not familiar with this fruit, I thought I’d show you how to attack one.

Pomellos are very thick-skinned. You need to buy the heaviest fruit you can find and be ready to end up with a much smaller piece of fruit to actually eat.

You score the skin and peel it all away. Then it’s a good idea to pull off some of the thick pericarp or albedo. (yes, I’ve been using Wikipedia.) You don’ t need to remove all the pith.

Next you pull apart the segments and pull back the membranes that divide each segment. Then finally you get to eat the lovely pulp that is left. The pomello is not a terribly juicy fruit, but the taste is subtle and unique. I like to eat a few segments at a time and store the rest in a plastic bag in the fridge. Other websites give instructions to peel the entire fruit and serve it. I figure you have to do the work yourself or you don’t get to eat it!

Hope you try one. Hope you like it!