SPIRITUAL CRISIS: What’s the best pomelo you’ve ever had?

[Rottypixie]

Thank you for clarifying, it wasn't clear to me either that was a Valentine pomelo. Beautiful!

Rottypixie, you're fairly close to pomelo heaven, Shiraki Orchard in Japan grows 40 different pomelo varieties (plus 60 other types of citrus) and have pummelo available every month of the year, https://www.japan.travel/en/gastronomy/article-japans-secret-citrus/. It's on my bucket list. Their monthly pomelo calendar is great too, https://buntan.com/

I really like Starburst and Hirado Buntan but they're the only varieties I've tried.

All the best with your quest! Amazing pomelos are out there!!

Thanks for the links—super helpful.
That said, I think I wasn’t really looking for fruit per se… I’m more interested in budwood or a potted tree, ideally something that could survive zone 6 without disassociating mid-winter.

Still kind of stunned that Japan’s just… sitting over there hoarding 40 pomelo varieties like it’s normal.
Meanwhile, I’m over here grafting Flying dragon onto Flying Dragon in a garage that doubles as a seasonal depression simulator.

Appreciate it though. Added Shiraki to the life list.

[Yorgos]

I grew a chandler for a number of years.  It never had any decent flavor.  I picked them early, I picked them late, but always a bland flavorless result.  The bloomsweet grapefruit right next to it was delish so I presume the chandler was getting the heat units it needed to sweeten up.  Pomelos are not worth it to me.
Sadly, they both died in the freeze of 2021.

[Altadena Mara]

My Valentine pumelo produced its first ripe fruit a few weeks ago. It wasn’t as red as in the pictures but was still pretty good. After visiting Mimosa Nursery in LA, I went to an Asian market near there, found a number of pumelo varieties for sale and have been eating my way through them. The Starburst was pink inside, mild tasting and moderately sweet with a faint citrus aroma. The Honey one was pale yellow inside, slightly sweeter than the Starburst, and had more of a citrus fragrance. The Ruby Green and the big yellow whose name I forget will have to wait until tomorrow. If you want to sample several different pumelo varieties for yourself, check out your local Asian markets now in January.

[70Malibu]

Altadena Mara, yes I do get some of those Asian pomelos for the local markets here in SoCal. Also Weee onlinie is a good source since they import them from everywhere, delivery is fast, only a few days in my area.

I must agree with the few people who commented on Chandler pomelo.
"Chandler is one of the worst pummelos imo. Low acid low sugar bitter aftertaste with mediocre pith to flesh ratio. Why was it ever popularized?"

Sorry Brian and Fruitnut. I had a large Chandler pomelo tree along with all my other pomelos and Valentine and Cocktail pomelo, about 8 different ones growing in my backyard, same conditions, some multi-grafted trees so there was no difference in the tree feeding/watering.

The Chandler never tasted better than an average pomelo that I wouldn't grow, so I cut it down, top worked with all the other varieties I liked from UCR/CCPP collection.

Yesterday my friend who likes Chandler has a nice grafted tree so he gave me his fruit. Now I can taste it again after 5yrs and compare it to all my other pomelo/grapefruits I have on my table for my tasting.

[70Malibu]

Here's my Valentine, 1/16/26. The fruits are not ripe yet. It gets the sweetest around 2/14.

I will post my taste test results on my other post with all my fruits I'm tasting from 2025 to now.





I gave these Valentine fruits to many people to try and they still like the taste a lot. By mid-Feb it will get brix=12 and be at it's best.