If you pride yourself on your pithy prose, then this is the fruit for you!
Let’s talk about pith. Or actually, let’s learn a new word today — albedo. I heard this word on one of the tours at the UC Riverside Citrus Collection a few weeks ago and I jotted it down to look up when I got home. I don’t like to let an opportunity go by to learn to use a word that I can throw out later to impress people at snotty parties (not to be confused with snot parties, which are more geared toward the toddler crowd). You may be briefly wondering why I bother to go to snotty parties. The truth is, I really don’t. But I like to have a fancy word in my pocket just in case. You never know!
So it turns out albedo is simply the botanical word for pith, the spongy and often bitter, protective layer between the fruit inside and the zest layer on the outside. Put another way, the albedo (or pith) + the zest = the peel (or skin or rind).
So the next time your friend cuts open a fruit like this one, you can think of me and calmy say, “Oh hey – look at the albedo on that baby! It forms the outline of two perfect mitten shapes on that pommelo. How perfectly delightful!” To which your friend will likely either laugh or just look at you puzzled – both fun in my book.
Pommelo
APPEARANCE Rating: 
Humongous (this is the largest planet in my citrus solar system project after all!). Pretty green skin with 1 inch thick albedo and pink flesh.
AROMA Rating:
Clear but mild grapefruit.
TEXTURE Rating: 
Pretty difficult to cut with a common butter knife (whereas the Melogold I was also tasting cut easily). The flesh was almost crunchy with some juice. No seeds.
TASTE Rating:
Extremely mellow, slightly sweet grapefruit flavor without any bitterness and very little acidity.
OVERALL Overall Rating:
This citrus was basically crunchy and bland, which are not words I’m ever hoping to say after eating citrus, particularly one I associate with the complex and assertive profile of a grapefruit. Bleh.
NOTES
Pommelos also go by the name pummelo, pomelo, Chinese grapefruit and shaddock. I personally would go by shaddock if I were a pommelo. It has a certain cowboy swagger, which I feel I would need if I tasted like this.
| FRUIT Pommelo |
PEAK Winter |
PURCHASED Grocery Store |
| VARIETY Unknown |
GROWN Unknown |
I’ve just discovered your blog and am blown away by the concept and execution, not to mention the vivid descriptions of fruit! As a fellow fruit aficionado, I feel like I’m home. Anyways, I thought the pomelo/pummelo/pommelo/shaddock was ‘ucky’ the first time I dried it, but by the second time I learned how to cut it correctly (cut off the top, and then slice outward from the center of the cut, then peeling apart) and found that the little segments make for delicious little parcels of juice that can be carried to work or sprinkled on salads. I think the first one I tried was just bland. Anyways, adding to the badass appeal of the name ‘Shaddock,’ apparently the name comes from a sea captain who brought the first seeds to the Caribbean. I’m sure those weren’t the only seeds he… oh nevermind.
Steve – I’m so glad you found me. Was just looking around your blog and I love it!
I always thought pummelos were plenty of tasty, myself
Well, it’s not super sweet or super sour, unlike your average pieces at various stores, but Ismus definitely far from “bland”.
Not sure what you’ve eaten, but it also depends on a season and the fruit itself. There are different tastes even on the same tree! Give it another chance, make sure it’s ripe!