I have always been the fruits-and-veggies kind of gal. It must be because I grew up having to eat them. My mother was very strict about eating what was served on the table, and she constantly prepared vegetables as our daily meals. As for fruits, I grew up in Davao that is blessed with fertile volcanic soil. We have abundant supply of fruits all year round. We even have a festival called Kadayawan to celebrate our bountiful harvests.

Davao is known for its sweet fruits. There's the durian, rambutan, mangosteen, among others. My absolute favorite is the Pomelo, which looks like a large grapefruit and is known in English countries as "shaddock". I grew up eating this sweet citrus fruit but never really knew about the impressive list of health benefits one can get from them. It was Red's mom who told me about it when I brought her some pomelos from my trip to Davao years ago. She said it helped in keeping her blood pressure under control. Since then, I tried my best to bring her some. It was the only pasalubong she wanted from our yearly Davao trip.

I recently got one myself. My sister brought some for me from their short vacation in our hometown, and today, I got to enjoy one of my childhood favorites.

How to open the Pomelo

1.Score the skin of the fruit and cut horizontally. Continue in circular motion until you reach the other end of the fruit.

2.Peel off the second layer of rind. You want that pinkish-white part out of the way in order to take the fruit apart easily.

This is how it should look like now. The pomelo all peeled nice and clean.

4.Pull the fruit apart. You can easily do this by putting your thumbs in the hole as you break it apart.

Although this fruit is available in other parts of our country, they say the ones from Davao is the most delicious. Red didn't know how to open a Pomelo before he met me. He says he can't recall ever eating one until I gave him some. He likes it very much, but not as much as Durian. How about you? Have you had Pomelos from Davao too? How do you find it?

_{All photos are mine, taken using a Samsung S7 Edge camera phone}

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