Pomelos

Today, when I went to pick up my daughter at her friends, I came across a tree laden with huge nobby citrus fruit. Not quite a grapefruit–it lacked that refined, crossbed quality of commercial fruit–but definitely kin.

And my memory went way back to my grandmother’s duplex with its Bermuda grass and a tree full of things that weren’t really lemons and weren’t really grapefruit. “Pomelo,” I said.

“Do you know what to do with them?” my fellow mother said. “I have no idea. Here, take one. I will give you as many as you want.”

One was all I wanted. I sort of knew what to do with pomelos–to some extent, citrus is citrus. Zest can add zest or be candied. Marmalade is an option. Drinks are simply a matter of estimating sugar . . .

But, anything else? Well, so far, not much. A pomelo seems to be a precursor to the grapefruit, not as tart though and with a rind thick enough to compete with that or citron. (What, you’ve never had fresh citron? Well, there’s a reason for that. It’s about 80 percent pith. Yes, seriously.) Smells great though and looks impressive in its nobby way. Chez Panisse Desserts uses it for ice cream–hmmm. Chez Panisee Fruit, which is my usual guide to preparing things that show up around here, seems to have omitted it–though it may be buried in the grapefruit session.

Preliminary Google recipes show recipes for candying peel–well, maybe, but I’m actually not that fond of candied peel and will go this route as a last resort.

The search continues