LET POMELO GIVES YOU A LIFT

Dear Friends, 

Lately I took my family back to my hometown in Penang with my newly bought Toyota Innova MPV. It is really a work horse for us apart from offering us eight comfortable adult seats. Though it is only 2.0 litres with bulky outlook, it does give comfort and sufficient power even going uphill in certain stretch of the journey and I give it a thumbs up for it with its cost slightly more than RM100 thousand.

The journey was a smooth one and the weather was absolutely good from my house to Ipoh, slightly more than half of my journey. As usual I visited the shop just opposite the Perak Cave to get some local delicacies and pomeloes, the shop of my preference as I find their fruit much better in terms of its sweetness and its price is reasonable. They are there for many years.

The pomelo (Citrus maxima or Citrus grandis) is a citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white (or, more rarely, pink or red) flesh and very thick pudgy rind. It is the largest citrus fruit, 15–25 cm in diameter,^[1] and usually weighing 1–2 kg. Other spellings for pomelo include pummelo, and pommelo, and other names include Chinese grapefruit, jabong, lusho fruit, pompelmous,^[2] papanas, and shaddock.^[3]

1.0 Buying tips 

The question now is how to choose the sweet and juicy fruit. Here, there is always a misconception that smooth and nice outlook pomelo will give you sweet juicy flesh. But, I am sad to say that this is not the case. What I have learnt from my belated father is that you should choose fruit that is heavy for its size, which indicates that the fruit is juicy. The outlook of the skin is not so important. What is important is to get thin and soft skin type. Go for fragrant sweet smell if you could sense it. But it is always wise to check and confirm with its seller about the sweetness of the fruit. If you think of buying extra fruits, then it is a wise move that you tried one of the fruits there before you buy the bulk of it. Some are sour in taste.  If you can, choose the pink and red variety which is slightly sweeter and more nutritious (because of the darker pigment).

Look at the tip of the fruit where its branch is attach to the tree, as the photo below. The dryness of the tip will indicate to you how long the fruit has been plucked from the tree. Usually they will keep it for two or three days before it turn yellow indicating its ripeness.

2.0 To remove its flesh creatively

Here, I am very excited to share with you on how to remove the flesh creatively, which I have learnt from my belated father, and keeping the peel intact. Here, you need to slice out top small portion, about one to two inches depending on the thickness of its skin, so long as you keep its flesh unhurt.  Then you make a few slots of cuts around the skin of this fruit so as to provide a way for you to detach its fresh from the skin until the whole flesh is detached. Thereafter, you shall then remove the flesh. See the photo below shows the fruit after it was detached from its skin.

3.0 Its Uses

The pomelo tastes like a sweet, mild grapefruit, though the typical pomelo is much larger in size than the grapefruit. It is good thirst quencher due to its juicy taste. Moreover, it has very little, or none, of the common grapefruit's bitterness if you get the sweet ones. But the enveloping membranous material around the segments is bitter and considered inedible. Thus this part is usually discarded. I was made to understand that the peel is sometimes used to make marmalade, or candies, then (sometimes) dipped in chocolate, but I have not tried that before. Here, the peel of the pomelo is also used in Chinese cooking. In general, citrus peel is often used in southern Chinese cuisine for flavouring, especially in sweet soup desserts. Alternatively, you can juice the fruit out. To get the most out of it, you should keep the fruit in the refrigerator. Quarter the fruit and peel off the skin, but leave in as much rind as possible as it contains the most anti-cancer agents. You may add honey if you find its juice too sour. I would have love to plant a pomelo tree as part of the greening of the environment which I advocate, but the unsuitability of the soil condition at my area prevent me from doing so.

4.0 Pomelo tree

Though I have not visited its farm before, the photos below taken from the internet may give you some ideas as to how the tree looks like and its blossom seasons. The fruit can just hang on the tree. To have clearer picture, please take a look at the photo below.

5.0 Health Benefits  

Some claim that the rind of pomelo contains a high amount of bioflavonoid. The bioflavonoid was discovered to be able to stop cancer cells from spreading especially with breast cancer patients, by ridding the body of excess estrogen.

Its juice has an acid taste, but it has an alkaline reaction after digestion. As such, it is therefore beneficial to the digestive system. Apart from these, Pomelo has pectin which is effective in reducing the accumulation of arterial deposits. Its high content of vitamin C also can help to strengthen and maintain the elasticity of arteries. 

Its other benefits include helping in the weight loss process, because the fat burning enzyme in pomelo can help absorb and reduce the starch and sugar in the body.

Pomelo can even help in cases of fatigue, diabetes, fever, insomnia, sore throat, stomach and pancreatic cancer.

Hope this article can give you some light to love this fruit and enjoy eating them since it has so much benefit to us.

Take care and stay tuned for other useful articles.

Your Chief Servant,

James Oh

Founder and Group CEO

Skype me at james.oh18

http://liftyouup.blogspot.com