Pomelo

Pamplemousse chinois

What it is

One of the three ancestral citrus species, and the parent of the grapefruit rather than its cousin; it reached the Caribbean in the seventeenth century by an account Hans Sloane credited to a Captain Shaddock, whose existence no shipping record has ever confirmed. The English name shaddock therefore honours a man who may never have sailed.

In the kitchen

Peel deep: cut off the top, score the rind in quarters, pull it away and then strip every scrap of the thick white membrane, which is bitter. The vesicles come apart in dry beads — break the segments with your fingers, never a knife, and scatter them; there is no juice to lose.

Goes with

Shrimp Fish sauce Chili pepper Mint Peanut Desiccated coconut Brown crab Shallot

Same species

Bergamot Candied citron Chenpi Citron Menton lemon Makrut lime

In season alongside

Clementine Belgian endive Kumquat Rosa di Gorizia Pauillac lamb Japanese tilefish (amadai)

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