Have you tried a pomelo (pumelo)?

Last winter, I stumbled upon my first POMELO in the citrus section at Meijers. Curious, I tried one. It was a good deal larger than a grapefruit, had a very thick, soft, rather spongy rind and was significantly sweeter than a grapefruit, which I've historically enjoyed with copious amounts of sugar.



The last few weeks, I've really been enjoying my pomelo without added sweetener. Thought some of you might like to try them too.

The edible portion of the pomelo may be either yellow or pink, like a grapefruit and the outer peel ranges from yellow to green.



Pomelos may resemble grapefruit, but they are a species in their own right. They are an ancestor of the grapefruit, and not a hybrid. They are sometimes called shaddocks after the sea captain who brought them from Polynesia to the West Indies in the 17th century. They grow wild in Malaysia and Indonesia and the pomelo grew in China as early as 100 BCE.

I understand Paul's Fruit Market was expected to get pomelo in January. Meijers still had theirs on the display last Sunday.

If you want to try one of these delicious, sweet cousins of a grapefruit, don't delay as they apparently are available in this area for a limited time only.

A different cross-section view:



I've read that the Chinese believe eating pomelo brings prosperity and good fortune. I don't know about that, but I do believe it brings "Good Eats"!

Lois

Lois,

Thanks for the pictures and education: I've not had these before. I personally won't be eating them because of the food miles involved, but they sound great and I'm always up to learn about new foods.

Thanks!
Deb

Would eat Pomelo during eat visit to Israel.

Also, picked Lychees right off the trees and ate them... only problem was the bees that followed you around wanting some too.

I've got two different brands of pomelo in my house at the moment. The Sunkist and the Umina Bros. brands are both products of and grown in the U.S. The Sunkist variety, however, has a much thicker layer of "pith" between the rind and the flesh. The overall size of the two are very close, so the Umina variety is going to have a higher yield of edible portion. (Both were purchased at Meijers, BTW.)

Lois

Lois,

Thanks for the pictures and education: I've not had these before. I personally won't be eating them because of the food miles involved, but they sound great and I'm always up to learn about new foods.

Thanks!
Deb

I understand the idea of "food miles" and applaud you for your thinking.

I have not heard of these fruits either, but found that, although originating in southeast Asia, they are grown in the US to a limited extent.

However, I am curious as to how far you take the idea of food miles. Do you drink French wines, or stick with Kentucky/Indiana wines. How about fish, most of which comes from a good distance. Big percentage of shrimp comes from southeast Asia.

Even stuff that comes from California uses a lot of "food miles". Orange juice from Florida. I can't guess how many times I have told truck drivers when to gas the tomatoes from Florida and California to turn them red (not really ripen).

Even the origin of a lot of meat is a long way away. New Zealand lamb, Ostrich, South American beef, Australian rabbit. Even beef from Montana is a fair distance.

Understand that I am not criticizing but wondering how do you decide?

However, I am curious as to how far you take the idea of food miles. Do you drink French wines, or stick with Kentucky/Indiana wines. How about fish, most of which comes from a good distance. Big percentage of shrimp comes from southeast Asia.

Even stuff that comes from California uses a lot of "food miles". Orange juice from Florida.

Steve,

Your wording seems to ask what I personally do, so below is a little of my own philosophy. But in general I don't believe in preaching about "food miles' adherence . I think it's a very personal decision with lots of individual levels /shades of grey. To me, the biggest thing is 1) to be aware of the impact of our buying decisions, and then 2) make decisions about your food buying habits to save food miles where you can. If everyone reduces even a small amount, it will make a huge difference to our environment, our heath and our local farmers.

Here are my personal guidelines/decisions:

In my mind, produce is by far the biggest offender for food miles due to 1) frequent use (therefore frequent shipping), 2) volume of product (It requires a lot of space) and 3) amount of waste of that expensively transported product (up to 50% for some produce by the time it reaches the consumer), and 4) severe travel miles for some produce (like bananas and other tropicals). So this is where I put my biggest emphasis. What this means is that we buy a very significant part of our produce locally during the months the Farmer's Market is open. Some of this produce was frozen or canned for later use. We gave up bananas for 6 months (only eating them sparingly now when other fruit is unavailable), cut out all other tropicals and imported (Spain, Israel, Costa Rica, etc) produce. We try to stick to seasonal produce as much as possible ( right now we are eating butternut squash & sweet potatoes from last Fall's farmers Market, plus frozen vegetables. We've substantially reduced our California produce and, then buy it from Costco (since it is a California -based company, I believe this is cutting out a significant portion of the "distribution"-based miles- I may be wrong here). I buy more Michigan blueberries, and less California strawberries.

Regarding meats, we've cut out New Zealand lamb, and only eat lamb if we get it from Dreamcatcher locally. Local fish is preferred if in season but I don't plan to give up (asian) shrimp, though I bought Kentucky shrimp when it was available at the farmer's Market, and we've reduced the volume. I still buy wild-caught salmon from Alaska, and fish that is quick frozen on the boat which is much less transportation intensive than flown-in fresh. Still haven't resolved the chicken issue yet.

Because things like Italian olive oil, greek olives, sea salt, truffle oil, and spices are not used in volume and these long-keeping items have very little waste, they have alot less impact than produce, and we don't intend to cut back on these. We rarely drink imported wines (but that was true before too ), still drink lots of California wines and do our part drinking lots of local Bourbon.

Like I said, though, this is just my own personal stab at trying to substantially reduce our food miles and still enjoy the foods that really matter to us.
Deb

I like pomelos, although I've only had a couple of the red variety which reminded me of a good red grapefruit. I only eat red grapefruit, ruby red, and I love fresh-squoze red grapefruit. For me, adding sugar to a grapefruit sort of defeats the health benefits.

However, I am curious as to how far you take the idea of food miles. Do you drink French wines, or stick with Kentucky/Indiana wines. How about fish, most of which comes from a good distance. Big percentage of shrimp comes from southeast Asia.

Even stuff that comes from California uses a lot of "food miles". Orange juice from Florida.

Steve,

Your wording seems to ask what I personally do, so below is a little of my own philosophy. But in general I don't believe in preaching about "food miles' adherence . I think it's a very personal decision with lots of individual levels /shades of grey. To me, the biggest thing is 1) to be aware of the impact of our buying decisions, and then 2) make decisions about your food buying habits to save food miles where you can. If everyone reduces even a small amount, it will make a huge difference to our environment, our heath and our local farmers.

Here are my personal guidelines/decisions:

Because things like Italian olive oil, Greek olives, sea salt, truffle oil, and spices are not used in volume and these long-keeping items have very little waste, they have a lot less impact than produce, and we don't intend to cut back on these. We rarely drink imported wines (but that was true before too ), still drink lots of California wines and do our part drinking lots of local Bourbon.

Like I said, though, this is just my own personal stab at trying to substantially reduce our food miles and still enjoy the foods that really matter to us.
Deb

Not used in VOLUME? Pleeasee...You have to be kidding me if you think these few imported/exported items have less of a "Carbon Footprint"..

Every person who picks up a copy of "Gourmet" or "Food and Wine" are looking for those same ingredients that seem so "Scarce"!

Just because the tariff seems a little higher than the run of the mill stuff dosen't mean it's not in demand by many....

Deb

Thanks for your answer. You are correct in assuming that I was interested in what you did about this.

I really had never heard of the concept of "food miles' until recently. It is difficult to make much of a difference although I do shop at the farmers markets, but mainly because it is often better and supports local people.

Thanks

Because things like Italian olive oil, Greek olives, sea salt, truffle oil, and spices are not used in volume and these long-keeping items have very little waste, they have a lot less impact than produce, and we don't intend to cut back on these. We rarely drink imported wines (but that was true before too ), still drink lots of California wines and do our part drinking lots of local Bourbon.

Like I said, though, this is just my own personal stab at trying to substantially reduce our food miles and still enjoy the foods that really matter to us.
Deb

Not used in VOLUME? Pleeasee...You have to be kidding me if you think these few imported/exported items have less of a "Carbon Footprint"..

If you want a better education on the statistics about this, "Animal, Vegetable Miracle" by local Kentucky Author Barbara Kingsolver is both a wonderful read and very educational.

I'm not saying these foods don't have a bigger carbon footprint than local foods- of course they do. And you are right, many people use them. But think about this example.: sea salt. First it does not take up anywhere near the space (and therefore fuel ) that say, bananas do. Second, for those bananas, by the time they reach the consumer, in some cases 50% of that produce has been thrown away- that's a grocery store statistic- a due to spoilage, bruising, etc, so the used bananas have in esssence twice the carbon foot print. Sea salt keeps forever and would have little if any waste. And third, to my volume point : my family of 4 can easily go thru 3 lbs of bananas a week- 150 lbs a year with a carbon foot print of let's say 250 lbs due to spoilage. I also use sea salt almost exclusively, cook heavily and still probably only use a couple of pounds (if that) a year. Weight is fuel, so this volume difference really does make a difference, and produce is by far one of the biggest offenders. It our case it's one of the things we are trying to do to help: reduce the volume of frequently used perishable produce that travels long distances.

If you want a better education on the statistics about this, "Animal, Vegetable Miracle" by local Kentucky Author Barbara Kingsolver is both a wonderful read and very educational.

Deb