Pomelo

The pomelo is large - nay, huge - citrus fruit that grows in South-East Asia. We saw them growing when we were in the Mekong Valley in Vietnam, vast football-sized fruit with pale segments that look rather like grapefruit.  Apparently - geeky fruit-fact of the day - the grapefruit is actually a result of a pomelo-orange cross.  Who knew?!

I've always loved to try new fruits (although after the Durian episode perhaps I should be a little more careful..?!) but I have to admit that the first time I tried Pomelo I was a little disappointed.  It's difficult to peel and has a thick white pith, and once you get to the segments  they're strangely dry and uninspiring.

However, in the 6 months that I've now lived in Asia I have become a total convert.  There's the amazing Thai Salad that I ate in Bangkok of course, but I've also developed a taste for them unadulterated by anything other than a very simple condiment...

I don't tackle them whole, but have discovered them ready peeled and segmented in some of the local supermarkets, and the tray of segments comes complete with a little bag of chili sugar!

That's right, dried chilis mixed with regular sugar.  It's nothing short of a revelation to me.  You just dip the pomelo slice into the sugar and it creates the most amazing taste sensation - sweet of course, but with a gentle kick of chili heat following on.

My new favourite snack!

A Week in Saigon - A Fertile Land

The highlight of any trip to Vietnam has got to be the food.  As a cuisine it's incredibly fresh and full of vibrant flavours.  Vietnam, particularly in the south, in the Mekong Delta, is a very fertile land and large amounts of fruit and vegetables are grown there - not forgetting rice as well.

Fresh fruit was on sale everywhere in Saigon.  There were numerous market stalls full of it, but also many Vietnamese ladies carrying huge baskets of various fruit around, selling it to passers by as they went.

We took a day trip out into the Mekong Delta and saw an amazing amount of food being grown.

 Cocoa pods,

 Jackfruit,

 Papaya,

 Pomelo

 

And fields and fields of rice.  This lovely lady - a friend of our guide - took us across her paddy fields.

She picked us all some longan - the small lychee-like fruit seen all over South East Asia.

And then back at her house she picked us coconuts from her tree and gave us all a drink of fresh coconut water.

It seems that in Vietnam it's very easy to 'eat local'!