Origin and distribution: Pomelo is often called "shaddock" in the western world, believed to be an ancestor of the grapefruit. The name "shaddock" is derived from certain Captain Shaddock reputed to have brought some seeds from the Malay islands and left them in Barbados thinking that the climate there was warm enough for the seed to prosper. From there it spread to Jamaica and Puerto Rico (Webber, et. al. 1967).

The exact place of origin is unknown, but most likely from Malaysia and Indonesia where it is diversely found in the wild (Davies and Albrigo, 1994). The fruit has spread through Thailand and Malaysia and the rest of the Southeast Asian and Indochina regions. It is commonly cultivated in many islands of French Polynesia and many eastern countries including China, Japan, India, Fiji, and Thailand. It is also now grown in the Caribbean and in the United States, in California and Florida. The pomelo was introduced to southern China during the last century B.C. The Chinese cultivated it as a crop for thousands of years as it features significantly in the Chinese New Year festivities.

Pomelo has never fully established itself in the western hemisphere. First attempts at commercial production outside Asia were made at the beginning of the 1900's in California and Florida.

Variations of pomelo, either bred through selection and propagation or found as natural hybrids, have been cultivated in different places. In 1884, a variety of pomelo, limau bali, was imported into Malaya from Indonesia by Sir Hugh Low and it was grown in Penang and Perak. Meanwhile, a peculiar variety was found called the limau wangkang by Malays in the Dutch East Indies that consists of a small fruit enclosed inside a larger fruit.

In Southeast Asia, it is grown as a cultivable crop in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In Malaysia pomelo is widely grown in the state of Perak, Kedah, Melaka, Kelantan and Johor. Popular Malaysian pomelo varieties are the P051 (Shatian) and P052 (Tambun White - Malaysian varieties) which are sweet and delicious. Pomelo is also grown commercially in parts of the USA, Israel, China and Japan. It is found noncommercially grown in India, Jamaica and the Middle East. Currently, pomelo is being widely grown in the warm and humid climate of Asia and the Pacific Regions. Thailand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are the major producers of pomelo. It is commercially grown in southern China, Thailand, Taipei, the southern islands of Japan, the Pacific Islands, Mexico and Israel. Pomelos can also be found in the Mediterranean, tropical America and Australia, but its main growing centers are in South-East Asia and some other Asian countries.

Cultivars & Varieties

There are many cultivars of pomelo, but generally in Malaysia, pomelo is divided into the Thai, Chinese and Indonesian groups. The Chinese group consists of white-flesh types with pyriform-shaped fruit and thick rind. The main variety is "Shatian" (J8) which is mainly grown in the southern state of Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka of the Malayan Peninsular. The Thai group has smaller fruit (Saunt 1990), grown in the northern state of Kedah. The Indonesian group has white-fleshed and acidless fruit with thich rind as found in the varieties "Tambun White" and "Tambun Pink" which are currently the most popular varieties because of their juiciness and low acid content (Ibrahim 2000).

"Tambun Pink" pomelo		"Shatian" (J8) pomelo

Other cultivars and varieties of pomelo found throughout the world include:

Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck produces the biggest citrus fruit which can reach the size of a basketball under optimal condition. The tree may be 5-15 m tall and some forms are dwarfed. The young branchlets are angular and often densely hairy, and there are usually spines on the branchlets, old limbs and trunk. The leaves are alternate, ovate, ovate-oblong, or elliptic, 5-20 cm long, 2-12 cm wide, leathery, dull-green, glossy above, dull and minutely hairy beneath, the petiole broadly winged to occasionally nearly wingless. The flowers are fragrant, yellowish-white, 1.5-3.5 cm long, somewhat hairy on the outside. The fruit ranges from nearly round to oblate or pear-shaped; 10-30 cm wide; the peel, clinging or more or less easily removed, may be green, greenish-yellow or pale-yellow 1.25-2 cm thick. Pulp varies from greenish-yellow or pale-yellow to pink or red; is divided into 11 to 18 segments, very juicy to fairly dry. The flavor varies from mildly sweet and bland to sub-acid or rather acid.

Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck		Citrus grandis 'Tahitian'

Citrus grandis 'Tahitian' is ('Moanalua'; often called 'Tahitian grapefruit') was originally grown from seed thought to have been brought from Borneo to Tahiti and later introduced into Hawaii. It is a typical pomelo but with a thin peel. The peel is greenish-yellow and the flesh has a greenish shade as well, but may become amber in full maturity. The fruit is juicy and the taste is sweet and it may have a flavor of melon or lime. The flavor and quality are excellent and it is locally popular.

Tahitian pomelo is often used in the development of new cultivars of both pomelos and grapefruit. 

Citrus grandis 'Siamese Sweet' is an acidless, sweet-tasting pomelo from Thailand. The fruit is oblate to broad ovoid; pulp white, with large, crisp, non-juicy sacs easily separating from each other; mild-flavored but faintly bitter. Tree is a dwarf with drooping branches and hairy new growth. This variety has been used in many citrus development programmes. It is one of the parents of Oroblanco and Melogold pomelo-grapefruit hybrids, Chandler pomelo and Cocktail pomelo-mandarin hybrid.

	Citrus grandis 'Siamese Sweet'

Citrus grandis 'Sweetie' is one of the newest pomelo hybrids. Its parents are Siamese Sweet pomelo (see photo above) and a variant of Marsh grapefruit developed at the University of California, Riverside. The flesh is pale yellow and the taste mild and sweet. This is one of the pomelos that retain some green on its rind even when ripe. The variety is also sold as Oroblanco grapefruit (C. maxima × C. × paradise).

A similar cross made in Israel was released under the name 'Sweetie'. The Israeli 'Jaffa Sweetie' is sold as a variety of grapefruit and can remain dark green even when fully ripe, but tastes sweet nonetheless.

Citrus grandis 'Sweetie'		Citrus grandis 'Thong Dee'

Citrus grandis  'Thong Dee' ('Khao Thongdi', 'Golden') is from Thailand. Both tree and fruit can grow very big. The fruit may have seeds if there are citrus trees with seeds in the vicinity, but is usually seedless. The fruit is juicy with a hint of pink. The fruit is oblate, large, 15 cm wide. Peel is sometimes pinkish inside, 1 cm thick. Pulp white with light-brown streaks; pulp sacs large, separating easily from the segment walls. The flesh is juicy, seedy and flavor good. Tree is vigorous and produces good quality fruits even under unfavorable conditions. There seem to be several strains of Thong Dee; some produce fruit with a pinkish flesh and seedless.

Citrus grandis 'Cuban Shaddock' was originally from Cuba but the parentage is unknown. Tree is vigorous but sensitive to cold, upright, large, thorny, spreading with dense foliage and productive. Leaves are large, oblong-elliptic, and blunt-pointed. Flowers and new growth are not purple-tinted. Because the fruit has characteristics of citron and according to certain authorities also of lemon, the classification of the Cuban Shaddock varies.

While the fruit sometimes resembles a big Ponderosa lemon (a citron x lemon hybrid) with leaves that of pomelo, not lemon. The fruit is large to very large, globose to obovate and depressed. Seeds are numerous and dark yellow at maturity. Rind is thick and spongy, surface rough, bumpy, and commonly somewhat furrowed. Flesh color is yellowish-green, coarse-textured and juicy, flavor is acid.

Citrus grandis 'Cuban Shaddock'		Citrus grandis 'Chandler'

Citrus grandis 'Chandler' is one of the most popular pomelos. It is a cross between the Siamese Sweet (white, acidless) and Siamese Pink (acid) pomelos developed at Indio, California and released in 1961. The fruit is an almost perfect globe, medium size to very big with a smooth peel that sometimes has a pinkish tinge. Pulp is pink to medium red, fine-grained, tender and fairly juicy. Segment walls are thin. The flavor is superior to that of either parent; subacid with about 12% sugar. It is seedy, early in season; of good keeping quality. The color of peel and flesh strongly varies depending on climate and soil conditions.

Citrus grandis 'Jaffa Red Pomelo' is the name the Israeli producers use for their Chandler pomelos. Chandler is a cross between the Siamese Sweet and Siamese Pink pomelos that originated from Riverside, California. The big Jaffa Red Pomelos are often more pear-shaped than Chandlers in the US. The colour depends on climate and soil conditions. The Chandlers grown in Israel often develop strong colour. The skin can remain dark green, but inside the flesh is often strong dark red. The flesh is sweet and sub-acid. Jaffa Red Pomelo is well suited to people who find other citrus fruit too acidic.

Citrus grandis 'Shatian' (PO51) and "Tambun White" (PO52) are commercially planted by Malaysian farmers."Tambun White" (PO52) is seedless and has high juice content. Fruit of the "Shatian" variety is medium size and weighs (1.5-2.0 kg), almost round with flattened base. The skin is light green with yellowish tinge. The fruit is sweet with 9-10% TSS and the pulp is white and very juicy. "Tambun White" is sometimes called "Pomelo Manis" originally found in the Tambun area near Ipoh, Malaysia. The fruits are medium-sized (1.4-1.7 kg) which are almost round with flattened base. The skin is light green with yellowish tinge. The fruit is sweet with 8-9% TSS and the pulp is pinkish and juicy. "Melomas" a new variety released by MARDI, Malaysia has small to medium-sized fruit weighing 1.0-1.2 kg each. The fruit is obate to round in shape, and has "clean" peel surface which is thin, yellowish green at maturity with fine hairs on the surface. The pulp is slightly pinkish tint, juicy with good flavor, aromatic and has high sugar content 11-12% TSS, low acid and no bitter taste.

The delightful citronella fragrance of Tambun pomelos, make it clearly one of the best in the world.

"Tambun White" pomelo (Malaysia)

"Melomas" pomelo

Citrus grandis 'Jaffa Red Pomelo'		Citrus grandis 'Mato Buntan'

Citrus grandis 'Mato Buntan' is said to have been taken from South China to Taiwan about 1700 AD and much later from there to Japan. Today "Mato Buntan" is highly priced among pomelo varieties in Chinese Taipei and also popular in Japan. Fruit is medium-large, broadly obovoid to pyriform and seedy. It is light-yellow at maturity. Rind medium-thick, pebbled from protuberant oil glands and tightly adherent. Segments are numerous (12-16) and membranes are thin but tough. Flesh is light greenish-yellow, crisp, somewhat tough, lacking in juice. Flavour is sweet, mildly acid and sometimes with a trace of bitterness. It's early in maturity.

Tree is dwarfed and small, round-topped and drooping; twigs and shoot growth short and thick. Leaves are large and thick.

Citrus grandis 'Pomelit' (selected from Thong Dee pomelo seedlings grown from seed collected in USDA germplasm and planted in Orlando in 1947) is similar to the Djeroek Delima Kopjor of Indonesia.  The tree grows vigorously, but is reported to be susceptible to branch breakage under heavy fruit loads.  The fruit is round with a slightly flattened base (see photos below).  The rind is thin for a pomelo, greenish-yellow to yellow, and smooth.  The pink flesh is tender and juicy with a finer texture than is typical of a pomelo. The fruits are seedy but of good flavour.  Pomelit matures early and holds well on the tree.

Citrus grandis 'Pomelit'

Citrus grandis 'Reinking' is a selected seedling from a cross of 'Kao Phuang' and the 'Shamouti' orange made at Indio, California, but still a typical pomelo. The tree grows well to a large size with big leaves and drooping branches. The fruit is large and pear-shaped with a slightly flattened bottom and has a slightly pebbled, thick, yellow rind. The flesh is light yellow, ricey in texture but juicy. The flavour is good, but the fruits are seedy. Reinking fruits mature early and hold fairly well on the tree.

Citrus grandis 'Reinking'		Citrus grandis 'Honey'

Citrus grandis 'Honey' is the name the Chinese growers in Pinghe have given to their local variety. "Honey pomelo" is said to be seedless and sweet, the flesh semi-transparent. The colour varies from light green to lemon yellow. It is reported to have been grown for more than 500 years in the Pinghe area. The fruit weighs between ½ - 2 kg. The total plantation area in Pinghe county, near Zhangzhou City, Fujian province in southeast China is 300,000 hectares with a yearly production of 460 000 metric tons. The export volume is 50,000 tons. The main harvest is from mid September to mid October, but the fruit is available from September to February.

Citrus grandis 'Cocktail' is a cross of the Siamese Sweet pomelo and the Frua mandarin made in 1966, developed in Riverside, California. Thinner peeled than most pomelos, the fruit has seeds and is very juicy. The peel, flesh and juice are mandarin-coloured. The flavour is pleasant and sub-acid. Cocktail matures in early winter and the fruits hold well on the tree. Cocktail trees are large and vigorous. The fruit can vary from the size of an orange to the size of a grapefruit.

Citrus grandis 'Cocktail'		Citrus grandis 'Valentine'

Citrus grandis 'Valentine' is a new variety from the University of California, Riverside, USA. It was a cross of a Dancy mandarin and Ruby blood orange hybrid with a 'Siamese Sweet' pomelo. Valentine fruit are round to somewhat pyriform in shape, usually with a slight neck at the base. Rind colour is medium to dark yellow. Valentine combines large size and low acidity from Siamese Sweet pomelo, a complex floral taste from Dancy mandarin, and juicy red pulp from Ruby blood orange.

Citrus grandis 'Ugli' is a hybrid from C. reticulata x C. maxima or C. x paradisi. Originally uglis were thought to be chance hybrids of mandarin and grapefruit. Closer examination of the various strands has shown that many parents are involved. Some of them are considered crosses of sour orange, mandarin and pomelo some are thought to be crosses of pomelo and mandarin. Some Ugli types (UGLI ® tangelo) are marketed as crosses of mandarin and grapefruit. However, the marketers of UGLI ® tangelo tell that the original parent tree of this commercial variety was a hybrid of Seville orange, grapefruit and tangerine. Similar hybrids are also grown in South Africa and in New Zealand since 1861.

Citrus grandis 'Ugli' (a hybrid from C. reticulata x C. maxima or C. x paradisi)

Citrus grandis 'Sarawak' is sometimes referred to as Tahitian pomelo.  The tree is large and vigorous. The fruit is round with a flattened bottom and has a greenish-yellow rind that is thinner than the typically thick pomelo rind. The flesh is greenish, juicy, and sweet with a flavor some refer to as melon-like or even lime-like.  It is early to mid-season in maturity and holds well on the tree.

Citrus grandis 'Sarawak' (Sarawak pomelo)

Citrus grandis 'Da Xanh' . It is green-skinned and round pomelo from Vietnam. Each fruit weighs about 1.0-1.5 kg with juicy pinkish red flesh when ripe. The pulp contains juice which is average sweet (11-12% brix) and excellent in taste, strong flavor, with 12 or more seeds per fruit. The tree is vigorous in growth. This pomelo variety is widely grown in Mo Cay, Chau Thanh districts in Ben Tre and Tien Gang provinces, Vietnam (SOFRI 2002).

Citrus grandis 'Nam Roi' grows very well in Ninh Minh district of Vinh Long province in Vietnem. It produces pyriform-shaped fruit with greenish-yellow skin, seedless and sometimes with more than 10 seeds/fruit in mixed cultivation along wuth other pomelo cultivars. Each fruit weighs about 1.0-1.2 kg with juicy light yellow flesh separated from mesocarp very easily when ripe. The juice tastes good, sweet but slightly sour (8.33% brix) and strong in flavor (SOFRI 2002).

'Nam Roi' Pomelo		'Da Xanh' Pomelo

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