My first encounter with pomelo was in high school in Taiwan, when I saw little kids running around during the Moon Festival wearing its thick peel as a hat. While everyone was spending the holiday stuffing their faces with moon cakes, I was busy tearing apart its thick green skin and marveling at the deliciously firm citrus flesh. Though now somewhat common, back then this grapefruit relative (the humble grapefruit is actually a hybrid of Indonesian pomelo and Jamaican sweet orange) was an addictive novelty that rivaled even the mighty bell apple for my interest, and since then it's become one of my favorite fruits - something I look forward to each winter, when, along with the pomegranate, it's actually in season. So the other day when I was looking at a poor, lone bulb of fennel sitting in my fridge waiting to be used, I immediately thought of this ideal partner.
