WotD: pomelo; shaddock

[muckefuck]

1. die Pampelmuse
2. de pompelmoes
3. la pampelmusa
4. l'aranja grossa
5. la pamplemousse, le pomélo
6. y siadog, y pomelo
7. an pomaló
8. pomarańcza olbrzymia
9. 왕귤 (王橘)
10. 柚子 yòuzi

Notes: Pomelos and grapefruits were initially not distinguished botanically, so there's a boatloads of terminological confusion here. Grapefruit has been borrowed into several languages for the latter (notably German and Dutch), perhaps in acknowledgment of the fact that the US is responsible for a third of world production. (Confusingly, Pomelo has also been borrowed into these languages to designate various hybrids of shaddock and grapefruit.) European French still uses one term with "vrai" or "véritable" being added to specify reference to the original species; pomélo is common in North America. In Catalan, a pomelo is a "big grapefruit" and in Polish it is a "giant orange". This has a parallel in 왕귤, Sino-Korean for "king [mandarin] orange", which however is not among the dozen or so current alternative Chinese names for the fruit. Just to round out the confusion, however, the characters of the common Chinese name are used in Japan and Korea for a completely different citrus fruit, the yuzu (known in China as 日本柚子 "Japanese pomelo" or 香橙 "fragrant orange").

I've never been a grapefruit fan, but somehow the taste of a pomelo is just different enough for me to enjoy in moderation. I can't remember why the Chinese find them auspicious, I just know that it doesn't seem like the Spring Festival without one in the house. We picked ours up Saturday morning at Tai Nam, which was a spectacle of glorious chaos. I can't imagine how the coming storm is going to play havoc with everyone's holiday plans.

Comments

Here in Catalunya…

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

US English	castellano	català
orange	naranja	toronja
grapefruit	toronja	pomelo
pomelo	pomelo	pomelo xinès

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

I can't recall having eaten a real pomelo before, only grapefruits and what is sold here as Pomelos.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

It's possible I haven't either. I have no way of knowing if the "pomelos" in the markets here are cultivars of C. maxima rather than hybrids.

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

I probably ate a "Chandler" variety of pomelo when I lived in California. The "Chinese pomelos" sold here in Catalunya appear to be a different variety and are actually imported from China.

The whole family of citrus fruits seems to be undergoing a change.

From Wikipedia…
"The tangelo is a hybrid between the pomelo and the tangerine. It has been suggested the orange is also a hybrid of the two fruits. Other pomelo hybrids include grapefruits and mandelos." I had a tangelo when I lived in California.

"The taxonomy and systematics of the genus are complex and the precise number of natural species is unclear, as many of the named species are clonally propagated hybrids, and there is genetic evidence that even some wild, true-breeding species are of hybrid origin. Cultivated Citrus may be derived from as few as four ancestral species. Natural and cultivated origin hybrids include commercially important fruit such as the oranges, grapefruit, lemons, some limes, and some tangerines.

"Research suggests that the closely related genus Fortunella (kumquats), and perhaps also Poncirus and the Australian Microcitrus and Eremocitrus, should be included in Citrus."

I grow a number of Fortunella and hybrids in my terraza along with two lemons, two perhsas, and a chinotto. All are budded on dwarf rootstock.

Chuck

[oddcellist.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that it was the homophony of 柚 with 有, sort of like why whole fish are appropriate because of the homophony of 魚 and 餘. In any case it just doesn't feel right without a pomelo and 壽麵 on the night of the holiday. 過年好！