I was at the farmers’ market last week and the local citrus stand had, among the oranges, lemons, and grapefruit, what looked like an elephantine lemon and labeled "shaddock."  I was intrigued and inquired what the difference was between that and a pomelo, and whether this would be appropriate in my favorite Thai pomelo salad.  The proprietor, not having much of a run on his bushel of shaddocks, simply gave me one for free to try out.

Wikipedia doesn’t distinguish between pomelos and shaddocks, though the shaddock does seem to be a slightly different variety of pomelo with a thicker skin.  This one has a diameter of about 6 inches including at least an inch of rind.

I had this salad several times in Bangkok years ago, and I haven’t yet recreated it to my entire satisfaction (somehow I’m missing one of the earthy undertones) but it’s pretty refreshing nonetheless.  I promised myself that I’d write up the recipe to give the vendor so he could boost his shaddock sales.  Here ’tis!

• 1 pomelo or shaddock
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 T fish sauce
• 1 T palm sugar (or white sugar if you must)
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• thinly sliced chilis to taste (or a few pinches of red pepper flakes)
• 1/4 cup peanuts, roughly crushed
• cilantro
• mint
• deep-fried shallots (available in jars at international markets, or make your own.)

Shred the pomelo into pearls, keeping them intact as much as possible.  For me this takes about 20 minutes.  Some images on how to do this here (decent looking alternative recipe as well!).  Dissolve the palm sugar in the lime and fish sauce.  To taste it should be equal parts salty, sweet, and tangy, though since in this case it’s going on more citrus I usually under-represent the lime a bit.  Add the garlic and chilis, and toss it over the pomelo, cilantro, and mint, and peanuts.  Top with the deep-fried shallots, and enjoy!  Each pearl pops in your mouth and releases it’s juice.

If I’d had any, I would have also tried adding:

• 1T super-thinly sliced lemon grass
• chiffonade of kaffir lime leaves

The next week, my wife went back and mentioned how much we’d enjoyed the shaddock.  He simply handed her the entire last bushel of the season.

Clearly the pomelo industry needs our support!  Do your part today.  You’ll be glad you did!