| Origin | Native to the Southeast Asian and the Indo-China regions. The exact place of origin is unknown. It is most likely from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia where it is found in the wild. |
| Description | Pomelo is the largest citrus fruit, 15-25cm in diameter. It is usually pear shaped with extremely large thick cotton-textured pith and differs from the closely related grapefruit especially in its loose rind and often coarse dry pulp. |
| Growth Habitat | Pomelo is a subtropical evergreen tree and so, it thrives on warm climates. A warm sunny location is preferable for growing pomelo tree. However, compared to other citrus fruit trees, pomelo can withstand shade to an extent. |
| Foliage | Pomelo has the largest leaves among all the citrus. The leaves are simple and grow to about 2 to 12cm wide. Oil glands are present on them as small dots and this gives the dark green leaves a shiny appearance. When crushed, they give off a strong smell. |
| Flowers | The flowers are yellowish white or plain white, fragrant, solitary and grow to around 2.5cm wide. |
| Fruits | The pomelo fruit is light green to yellow and dotted with oil glands. The fruit is either round or oblong with a white thick spongy pith that encloses the edible portion of the fruit. Each fruit consists of 9 to 14 segments covered with paper-thin skin. The flesh of the fruit is white, light yellow, pink or rose-red, juicy with a sweet sour or spicy sweet taste. |
| Harvest | The pomelos are picked at maturity which occurs about 140-160 days from fruit set. The dull skin of the fruit brightens upon ripening as the oil glands become more prominent and shiny. This change starts near the tip of the fruit and progresses towards the stalk. |
| Soil | The tree can adapt itself to various types of soil. However, the soil should be well drained as it is vulnerable to root rot problems. Best on slightly acid sandy loams. |
| Pruning | Pomelo and other citrus fruit trees usually do not require heavy pruning at regular intervals. If the tree looks too dense, you can thin the foliage a bit, in order to promote air circulation. Also be sure to remove the suckers growing from the root stock. |
| Fertilization | A practice in Nakon Prathom, Thailand is to apply 5 kg complete fertilizer per tree per year split into 6 applications or every 2 months. Foliar fertilizer is also applied every new flushes. In the last application before harvest, NPK combination of 13-13-21 is used to improve fruit taste. |
| Propagation | Pomelo can be propagated sexually by seed or asexually by air layering, budding, grafting and stem cuttings. In Southeast Asia, the most common propagation method is air layering. However, when there are certified disease-free mother plants, grafting and budding are recommended. |
| Nutritional Properties | The potent nutrients in pomelos are vitamins A, B1, B2 and C, bioflavonoid, healthy fats, protein, fiber, calcium, iron, potassium, pectin, antioxidants and enzymes. These nutrients help prevent toxins and free radical cells from building up in the body. The calories are relatively low, approximately 36 in a medium-sized fruit. Also they contain high amounts of antioxidants and phytochemicals. The pink or red-colored pulp is due to the presence of a carotenoid phytonutrient, called lycopene (found in tomatoes) that has a strong antioxidant activity. The antioxidant content is claimed to be much higher in the fruit’s seed extract (GSE). |
| Health Benefits | Eating fresh pomelo fruit or drinking the freshly squeezed juice can help prevent toxin and free radical cells from building up in the body. Benefits of eating pomelo: Though pomelo juice is acidic in nature, it helps in the digestive process of the body, by having an alkaline reaction after digestion. Pomelo rind contains huge amount of bioflavonoid that can stop the cancer cells from spreading the effect of breast cancer in a patient, by making the body get rid of the excess estrogen. The high amount of vitamin C present in the body makes the fruit an effective stimulant that facilitates in strengthening and maintaining the elastic nature of the arteries. Pomelo is also effective against fatigue, diabetes, fever, insomnia, sore throat, stomach and pancreatic cancer and other such infectious diseases. Pomelo contains pectin which proves to be very effective in reducing the accumulation of arterial deposits in the body. Pomelo is also useful in reducing the cholesterol count in the body, thus saving you from running the risk of various heart related problems. Overweight people can especially benefit by adding the pomelo fruit in their diet. It helps in absorbing and reducing the starch and sugar in the body. |
| Commercial Uses | The pomelo can be used anywhere where grapefruit is suggested. The peel is sometimes used to make marmalade, can be candied and sometimes dipped in chocolate or, in China, is used to stir-fry with pork. They make various medicaments from the seeds, flowers, matured peel and slices of young fruit by usually drying them up. The Malays eat the fruit to treat abdominal pains and phlegm. The leaves are boiled into a lotion and applied on swellings and ulcers. Flowers are used to extract perfume. Timber from pomelo trees are used in making tool-handles. |
| Food Suggestion | Mango Pomelo Sago Ingredients: - 300 g mango pulp-diced - 100 g pomelo pulp - 100ml full cream evaporated milk - 500g mango puree (either processed or pureed from mango pulp) - 700ml simple syrup - 100g sago Method : To a pot of boiling water, add sago pearls slowly and cook until they are left with only a tinge of opaque white left. 1.Turn off the flame, cover the pot and set aside for 10 mins for the pearls to cook through with residual heat, until totally transparent. 2.Sift the cooked sago and soak into a bowl of ice water. Refrigerate until ready to be used. 3.Peel mangoes and chunk the flesh into large cubes. 4.Blend mango puree with simple syrup until smooth. 5.In a large serving bowl, pour mango puree, most of diced mango, most of pomelo pulp, sago pearls and evaporated milk. 6.Chill for several hours until ready to serve. Ladle into small serving bowls and garnish with more fresh mango cubes and pomelo pulp. |
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