# Pomelo

The pomelo (/ˈpɒmɪloʊ, ˈpʌm-/ POM-il-oh, PUM-; Citrus maxima), also known as a shaddock, is the largest citrus fruit. It is an ancestor of several cultivated citrus species, including the bitter orange and the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid, citrus fruit, native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a sweet grapefruit, the pomelo is commonly eaten and used for festive occasions throughout Southeast and East Asia. As with the grapefruit, phytochemicals in the pomelo have the potential for drug interactions.

## Description

The pomelo tree may be 5–15 meters (16–50 feet) tall, possibly with a crooked trunk 10–30 centimeters (4–12 inches) thick, and low-hanging, irregular branches. Their leaf petioles are distinctly winged, with alternate, ovate or elliptic shapes 5–20 cm (2–8 in) long, with a leathery, dull green upper layer, and hairy under-leaf. The flowers – single or in clusters – are fragrant and yellow-white in color.
The fruit is large, 15–25 cm (6–10 in) in diameter, usually weighing 1–2 kilograms (2–4 pounds). It has a thicker rind than a grapefruit, and is divided into 11 to 18 segments. The flesh tastes like mild grapefruit, with a little of its common bitterness (the grapefruit is a hybrid of the pomelo and the orange). The enveloping membranes around the segments are chewy and bitter, considered inedible, and usually discarded. There are at least sixty varieties. The fruit generally contains a few, relatively large seeds, but some varieties have numerous seeds. The physical and chemical characteristics of pomelo vary widely across South Asia.
* Seedling
* Flowers
* Tree
* Fruit
* Fruit and blossoms at the same time

## History
### Ancestral Citrus species

The pomelo is significant botanically as one of the three major wild ancestors of several cultivated hybrid Citrus species, including the bitter orange and the grapefruit; and less directly also of the lemon, the sweet orange, and some types of mandarin. The bitter orange is a naturally occurring hybrid between the pomelo and the mandarin, with the pomelo the larger and firmer of the two. The grapefruit was originally presumed to be a naturally occurring hybrid of the pomelo and the mandarin; however, genome analysis shows that it is actually a backcrossed hybrid between a pomelo and a sweet orange, which is why 63% of the grapefruit's genome comes from the pomelo. The bitter orange is a hybrid of wild type mandarin and pomelo; in turn, the lemon is a hybrid of bitter orange and citron, i.e. cultivated lemons have some pomelo ancestry. In addition, there has been repeated introgression of pomelo genes into both early cultivated hybrid mandarins and later mandarin varieties, these last also involving hybridization with the sweet orange. Pomelo genes are thus included in many types of cultivated Citrus.

### Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the word 'pomelo' is uncertain. It may be derived from Dutch pompelmoes. The Dutch name in turn has uncertain etymology, but is possibly derived from Dutch pompel 'swollen' or pompoen 'pumpkin', combined with limoes 'lemon, citrus fruit', influenced by Portuguese limões with the same meaning. An alternative possibility is that the Dutch name derives from Portuguese pomos limões 'citrus fruit'. The specific name maxima is the female form of the Latin for 'biggest'.
One theory for the alternative English name 'shaddock' is that it was adopted after the plant's introduction into Barbados by a 'Captain Shaddock' of the East India Company (apparently Philip Chaddock, who visited the island in the late 1640s). From there the name spread to Jamaica in 1696. The fruit is called jambola in varieties of English spoken in South Asia, and jabong in Hawai'i.

### Taxonomy

In his Herbarium Amboinense, published posthumously in 1741, Georg Eberhard Rumphius named it Limo decumanus. In 1753, Carl Linnaeus mentioned the plant as a subspecies, Citrus aurantium var grandis. In 1755, Johannes Burman validly described the species from the type specimen, giving it the name Aurantium maximum, now considered a basionym. In 1757, Pehr Osbeck named it Citrus grandis. Linnaeus revisited the taxonomy in 1767, renaming the species as Citrus decumana. In 1917, Elmer Drew Merrill revised and renamed it Citrus maxima. Aurantioideae remains as a subfamily.

## As food
### Nutrition

Raw pomelo flesh is 89% water, 10% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contains negligible fat. A 100-gram reference amount provides 159 kilojoules (38 kilocalories) of food energy, and is rich in vitamin C (68% of the Daily Value), with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

### Culinary

The flesh and juice are edible, and the rind is used to make preserves, or may be candied. In Brazil, the outer part of the rind is used for making a sweet conserve, while the spongy pith of the rind is discarded. In Sri Lanka, it is often eaten as a dessert, sometimes sprinkled with sugar. In large parts of Southeast Asia where pomelo is native it is commonly eaten as a dessert, sprinkled with salt or dipped in a salt mixture, or made into salads. In the Philippines, a pink beverage is made from pomelo and pineapple juice.
The fruit may have been introduced to China around 100 BCE. In East Asia, especially in Cantonese cuisine, braised pomelo pith is used to make dishes that are high in fibre and low in fat.
* Ipoh pomelos on sale in Singapore
* Tam som-o nam pu: spicy Thai pomelo salad with crab extract

### Drug interactions

The pomelo, while not itself toxic, can cause adverse interactions similar to those caused by the grapefruit with a wide range of prescription drugs. These occur by the inhibition of cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism of prescription drugs including for example some anti-hypertensives, some anticoagulants, some anticancer agents, some anti-infective agents, some statins, and some immunosuppressants.

## Cultivation

The seeds of the pomelo are monoembryonic, producing seedlings with genes from both parents, but they are usually similar to the tree they grow from and therefore in Asia, pomelos are typically grown from seed. Seeds can be stored for 80 days at a temperature of 5 °C (41 °F) with moderate relative humidity. Outside Asia, the pomelo is usually grafted onto other citrus rootstocks to produce trees that are identical to the parent; high-quality varieties are propagated by air-layering or by budding onto favored rootstocks.
* Fujian's Pinghe County is famous in China for its pomelos
* Orchard

## In culture

The pomelo is used in cultural and spiritual festivals across Asia. In China, during the Lunar New Year festival, the fruit is offered to ancestors. Its name is similar to the word for "to have" (有, yǒu), making it a symbol of prosperity and family unity. In Thailand, pomelo is used in rituals such as the Songkran Festival. Chhath Puja is a Hindu religious festival in which pomelo is used as an offering. This is celebrated to worship the Sun God, Surya. The ritual is celebrated in India and Nepal, lasting four days. Devotees offer their prayers to the Sun God and seek the deity's blessing for a prosperous and healthy life.