Citrus Species, Chinese Grapefruit, Pomelo, Pummelo, Pumello, Pamplemousse, Shaddock

I am in a dry hot climate in Southern California. My neighbor grew the tree from a seed he got in Hawaai. It had been in a pot for about...Read More 10 years and never produced fruit. When he moved he gave me the tree. I planted it in my back yard and it grew very quickly in un-ammended clay soil with little water. After 2 years it had a bumper crop of enormous Volley ball sized fruit...I knew it was in the grapefruit family, but the fact you had to peel each section of the tough inedible skin kind of worried me. After I read that this is a normal occurance for the fruit I started peeling away. This year it produced delicious fruit of enormous size and before I have picked it all it is blooming heavily again for a second crop. The blooms are the most fragrant "gardenia" scent. I wish I could bottle for perfume. The only down side I have noticed are very large thorns on the tree. And the lack of recipes I have for it.

Citrus maxima or Citrus grandis is a crisp citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. It is known mostly as the principal ancestor of the gr...Read Moreapefruit. Not as juicy or bitter as a grapefruit, it is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white (or, more rarely, pink or red) flesh and very thick rind/pith. It is the largest citrus fruit, (5.9–9.8 in) in diameter, and usually weighing 2.2–4.4 lb.

In North America, it is most frequently found in Asian markets, though it is beginning to appear in regular markets as a novelty fruit. A few Mexican farmers are beginning to grow it as a commercial crop.

Having been raised in Hong Kong, I have a hard time understanding the American fondness for the sour and bitter grapefruit. Even the bes...Read Moret grapefruit is still sour and bitter compared to a pommelo. If you ever tried to use the term "sweet" to describe a grapefruit, you never tasted a truly sweet pummelo.

Most pummelos sold in North America are unfortunately of the Chandler (salmon flesh color) or Oro Blanco (white flesh color) varieties, which are inferior to the true Chinese pummelos because they still have too much acidity in them, whereas the Chinese pummelos have practically no hint of acidity.

It seems the American consumer taste gravitates towards juiciness at the expense of sweetness. Chinese pummelos are sold by Four Winds Nursery under the variety name of "Chinese Grapefruit." I believe it is the same variety as the "Big Wong" Chinese pommelo. They are shaped like a giant Bartlett pear and ripen to perfect sweetness even in the mild summer climates of the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area. Oro Blanco is also shaped like a Bartlette pear, but it is not a true Chinese pommelo. Oro Blanco has a sourness kick to it. Oro Blanco is juicy, but has no aroma, whereas the Big Wong has great aroma and is very sweet, although it's less juicy. I'll go for sweetness any day.

Makes great house trees.
I've been raising pummelos from grocery store seed for years. They have survived cold nights (40-50F) in ...Read MoreIdaho spring and fall. They have survived my rather forgetful watering tendencies, to the point of only wilting slightly when the soil is so dry it separates from the pot. They have survived months without much light due to lack of window space and gray northern winters. Despite what I've read about the tendency of citrus to defoliate at the drop of a hat when kept indoors, mine have never done so despite it all.
Slow growing under the above conditions (understandably), but incredibly worthy even without flowers or fruit. Beautiful semi-glossy large double leaves like Kaffir lime smell nice when crushed. I can't wait to build a greenhouse and see what happens when they get moved into it.