Citrus Obsession, Year 3

I am only half joking.  Those closest to me know.  It's a problem.  Maybe.  Probably.

A few years ago it started innocently enough with a bag of those little mandarins.  What a delicious little snack, right?  Before I knew it, there was a serious addiction happening.  I would eat them all day long, and barely bother with other foods.  Eventually I was eating one of those ginger chew candies (VERY sticky) and pulled a crown right off without feeling a thing.  That should have been a tip off, but it was another few months before I had dental xrays and learned that eating citrus all day had given me 2 nasty cavities - something I hadn't dealt with in at least a decade.  The dentist said that one in the morning is no big deal, but if you eat them, you must rinse (or brush).

Moving on...
I switched to navels, because they are more difficult to peel and eat.  Still satisfying, but not quite as mindless.  When navels go out of season, we eat a lot of grapefruit segments. 

This year, a friend brought a new fruit along to the Thanksgiving meal.  She brought a pummelo (Citrus maximus) along with her, all the way from Florida, telling us that it grew on her neighbor's tree.

Wow!  How had I ignored these for so long? 

Well, for one thing, I probably would have eaten them wrong.  Still might be, I suppose, but we opened the stiff/tough membranes between the segments and pulled just the jewel-like juice filled bits.  They are sturdier than in smaller citrus fruits, so they don't break in your fingers.

An added bonus (for me) is that sitting in the evening and enjoying one of these beauties can take well over 1/2 hour.  If you are an emotional eater, or you eat because you're bored, this is a great choice.  First you have to work at it, and second, it isn't terribly high in calories.  72 calories per cup - so about 150 for the whole fruit.

There are lots of health benefits, not the least of which are more than twice the RDA of vitamin C and a boatload of fiber.

I wanted to share this fruit with you while it is in season.  I don't think they'll be around too much longer, so go get some!