| If you don't live in South East Asia, then you may | | | | When she peeled back the skin it was thick and |
| have very likely missed one of the most delicious | | | | foamy -- approximately an inch and a half thick, |
| fruits available on trees. It's called the pomela and the | | | | maybe two inches. |
| first time I saw one, I thought it was a slightly | | | | The next step involved removing all the layers of |
| greenish grapefruit on steroids; a genetically | | | | skin off before proceeding to eat the pomela. It's |
| engineering fruit gone amok. Of course, never one to | | | | sort of like removing the epidermis, the dermis and |
| be deterred by chemicals in food, I bought one and | | | | the sub-dermis, and it takes about as long. |
| took it home. | | | | When you reach the filmy, sub-dermis membrane |
| Once I got it home I left it on the counter for about | | | | you have to slowly peel it away from each and |
| two weeks and I just looked at it. It might as well | | | | every wedge. The exact opposite of how one eats |
| have been a piece of art rather than food. | | | | an orange. With an orange, you eat that filmy |
| Finally, and rather embarrassed, I asked a friend who | | | | membrane layer covering the actual citrus flesh. With |
| lived in Israel much longer, what I should do with my | | | | a pomela, you do not. |
| pomela. "Well, you could eat it," she said. I knew that, | | | | The trick is to remove the entire wedge in tact. This |
| but the real question was, "how?". | | | | is difficult when the fruit is really ripe and the goal is |
| It's easy to think you are worldly when you live in | | | | to simply get to the fruit inside. The pomela tastes |
| the same world your entire life. The real challenge is | | | | like a happy grapefruit; it doesn't have that little edge |
| when you leave your comfort zone in search of new | | | | of bitterness commonly associated with grapefruits. |
| experiences. While my friend was probably surprised | | | | A few years ago there was some medical |
| by my lack of fruit expertise, she simply asked for a | | | | breakthrough news that mentioned the |
| knife and made one big cut through the | | | | cancer-fighting attributes of pomelas. Unfortunately, I |
| circumference of the pomela. The she turned it about | | | | could not find the attributed source. However, for |
| 90 degrees and cut the circumference from that | | | | most people that is not what is truly important -- it |
| direction as well. | | | | would just be an added benefit. |