Interlude: Introducing the Pomelo

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I’d like to introduce to you my new favorite fruit. Please give me a hand in welcoming — the POMELO!!
pomelo

<clap clap clap clap clap clap>

I have no idea how it’s taken me 27 years to try eating a pomelo, but it is now my favorite fruit of all time. Sorry mangoes, you are also delicious, but not as delicious as this fruit – which look like grapefruit, but are much sweeter, much milder, and infinitely tastier. But it’s not just about the taste, it’s also about the preparation.

With a pomelo, you traditionally cut off the top of the fruit, make some shallow cuts along the sides, and pull out the fleshy part. You then have to manually peel off the acidic membranes, leaving the plump juicy fruit, which you can either immediately devour, or save for later (once chilled, they taste even more amazing):
Pomelo - peeled

For me, half the deliciousness of pomelos stems from the peeling process. It’s slow and manual, to perfectly peel the fruit. It gives you time to think, but also keeps your hands busy. While slowly peeling the fruit, you can savor the aroma, think about how delicious it will be to eat. You can make your relatives extremely happy, by preparing a bowl of well-chilled peeled pomelo. And of course, it does absolute wonders for any ADD tendencies. I once spent an afternoon peeling an entire crate of these amazing fruit.

Traditionally, the leftover peels are then used as hats. Somehow, it doesn’t quite fit on me or my cousin:
Pomelo - pomelo hat cousin Pomelo - pomelo hat portrait

But on small adorable children (this is my niece!), it works wonders:
Pomelo - pomelo hat adorable girl

On a related note, holy crap I’m an uncle!

One word of warning though: pomelo juice is a natural laxative. Eaten in small doses, it does wonders for encouraging flawless victories. On the other hand, if you eat an entire crate in one sitting, everything simply slides right out. Your mileage may vary.

One thought on “Interlude: Introducing the Pomelo”

  1. Hey Bruce! It’s Sam.

    Can you find my on Facebook using the name “Nathapong Sam”
    I’m currently in Chiang Mai and surely we can hang out when you’re here

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