Please meet the pomelo.
I love my parents' kitchen. When I visit, I always head straight for the kitchen. To check out the leftovers hanging out on the counter, the veggie inventory in the fridge, the weird fruits that remind my mom of the Philippines. There's always something that reveals what my parents have been eating the last few days and what's to come in the next few days. Poking around in the pantry and peeking into pots left out on the stove, I inevitably end up asking "What's that?" I discover something new every time.
These green onions obviously aren't a new discovery; I just love that I can usually find a bunch of just-washed vegetables hanging out sinkside in my parents' kitchen.
One corner of the kitchen island is often home to a heaping pile of fruits and vegetables. There's usually oranges and grapefruit and tomatoes. Sometimes persimmons. Or okra, or bitter melon, or squash, or mangoes, depending on the season. This time, oranges and avocados. And a pomelo.
...
"What's that?"
Well, a pomelo is this grapefruit-looking thing that my mom used to eat in the Philippines. She had seen them once before at grocery stores in the U.S., but this was her first time trying one here.
Peeled and segmented, it still pretty much looks like a grapefruit.
By the way, my mom also peels and segments grapefruit in this way. I've never been in the "cut-the-grapefruit-in-half-and-sprinkle-with-sugar-and-eat-with-a-spoon" club. I grew up in the "take-forever-to-peel-and-clean-the-grapefruit-and-then-sprinkle-it-with-salt" club. In fact, I'm an active member of the latter. I firmly believe you get way more of the fruit when peeled and segmented. It's even easier to be in this club when you have a mom that usually does all the work for you. (When I do it myself, I take apart one or two at a time and keep the segments in a Tupperware for easier snacking. I highly recommend this method. It also makes it easier to toss the grapefruit into a salad or something. Like a grapefruit and avocado salad. With spinach. Yum.)
The pomelo has a very, very mild flavor that's kind of a cross between a grapefruit and an orange. Definitely not as strong or bitter as a grapefruit, and the texture is drier and less of the "bursting-with-juice" of grapefruits and oranges.
Honestly, I'd rather just have a grapefruit. I kind of want a grapefruit right now. With avocado. And spinach...
These green onions obviously aren't a new discovery; I just love that I can usually find a bunch of just-washed vegetables hanging out sinkside in my parents' kitchen.
One corner of the kitchen island is often home to a heaping pile of fruits and vegetables. There's usually oranges and grapefruit and tomatoes. Sometimes persimmons. Or okra, or bitter melon, or squash, or mangoes, depending on the season. This time, oranges and avocados. And a pomelo.
...
"What's that?"
Well, a pomelo is this grapefruit-looking thing that my mom used to eat in the Philippines. She had seen them once before at grocery stores in the U.S., but this was her first time trying one here.
Peeled and segmented, it still pretty much looks like a grapefruit.
By the way, my mom also peels and segments grapefruit in this way. I've never been in the "cut-the-grapefruit-in-half-and-sprinkle-with-sugar-and-eat-with-a-spoon" club. I grew up in the "take-forever-to-peel-and-clean-the-grapefruit-and-then-sprinkle-it-with-salt" club. In fact, I'm an active member of the latter. I firmly believe you get way more of the fruit when peeled and segmented. It's even easier to be in this club when you have a mom that usually does all the work for you. (When I do it myself, I take apart one or two at a time and keep the segments in a Tupperware for easier snacking. I highly recommend this method. It also makes it easier to toss the grapefruit into a salad or something. Like a grapefruit and avocado salad. With spinach. Yum.)
The pomelo has a very, very mild flavor that's kind of a cross between a grapefruit and an orange. Definitely not as strong or bitter as a grapefruit, and the texture is drier and less of the "bursting-with-juice" of grapefruits and oranges.
Honestly, I'd rather just have a grapefruit. I kind of want a grapefruit right now. With avocado. And spinach...
My parents are eating pomelos as I type this! I always thought they looked like a heart or some type of organ after you've peeled off the outer layer. I took a pic of one couple of years ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/nikita2471/117978584/
Fun! I just peeled and segmented some oranges today for a spinach salad, and, I gotta tell ya, once the segments are right in front of me, it is so hard not to just eat them all.
ReplyDeleteI had pomelos for the first time in the Philippines this past Christmas. So delicious! But I haven't found any that taste as good Stateside. I'll keep trying . . .
ReplyDeletejoann - that's so funny! and that picture is awesome.
ReplyDeleteshanna - i'm more likely to eat fruit when it's peeled and sliced and put in front of me. otherwise, i almost never eat fruit. i should probably work on that...
tangled noodle - yeah, i don't think my mom was too thrilled about the one she had here. some things just taste better in the philippines, i guess. :)