Sweet Pomelo 

Pomelo is the largest citrus fruit originated from South East Asia. It resembles a pear,and it taste is very similar to grapefruit, but differs in taste in that grapefruit have a bitter taste.

Pomelo fruit also known scientifically as Citrus maxima or Citrus grandis is grown in countries such as Fiji, Thailand, Malaysia, southern China,but it's primarily grown in South East Asia.

It's the largest citrus fruit from the family Rutaceae, and the ancestor of the grapefruit.

The fruit may have been introduced into China around 100 BCE, in East Asia, places like Cantonese cuisine, pomelo is used to make dishes which are high in fibre, low in fat and high nutritional value.

           

The fruit is one of the natural non-hybrid citrus species from which cultivated citrus fruits have been hybridized from.

For instance, the common orange (Citrus  maxima) is presumed to be the hybridization of pomelo and Mandarin, with pomelo providing the larger size.

Today, pomelo is used in artificial breeding programmes. Other citrus fruits such as bitter orange, tangelo, grapefruit, forbidden fruit, mandelos, etc are artificial breeds of pomelo fruit.

Nutritional value of pomelo

A 100g of a fleshy pomelo contains; 

• 158kj of energy
• 0.04g of fat
• 9.62g of carbohydrates
• 1g of dietary fibre
• 0.76g of protein
• 86g of water
• 0.2mg of Niacin
• 61mg of vitamin C
• 4mg of calcium
• 0.03mg of Riboflavin
• 0.11mg of iron
• 0.03mg of Thiamine
• 8 IU of vitamin A
• 0.08mg of zinc
• 17mgof Phosphorus
• 0.017mg of Manganese
• 6mg of magnesium, 
• 216mg of potassium
• 1mg of sodium

          

A raw skinned pomelo contains 89% water, 10% carbohydrates, 10% protein, and negligible fat.

Consuming a 100g of pomelo fruit provides 38 kilocalories of food energy.