PAMPLEMOUSSE ET POMELO : TOUT SAVOIR SUR CES AGRUMES QUE L’ON CONFOND. Le Quotidien du Jardin N°413

NewsJardinTV, the channel dedicated to plants, gardens, botany, nature, and gardening, offers you issue 413 of its show "Le Quotidien du Jardin" (The Garden Daily), produced by Nicole and Patrick Mioulane. Farida5578 asks us the following question: Are pomelo and grapefruit the same plants because the fruits look different? Is it possible to grow them in the Nice region, where lemon trees thrive? The French refer to two different citrus fruits under the single term "Pamplemousse." The term "agrume" encompasses all trees (and their fruits) belonging to the genus Citrus (Rutaceae, 32 species). The true grapefruit tree has the botanical name Citrus maxima, which was given to it in 1917 by the American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill (1876–1956). Native to Southeast Asia, it is a tree 5 to 10 m tall, forming a short trunk with thorny branches. The evergreen, alternate, leathery leaves are borne on distinctly winged petioles. Oval or elliptical in shape, they measure 5 to 20 cm long. The creamy-white flowers, solitary or in small clusters, are very fragrant. They appear several times during the season (up to once every three months). The "Pamplemousse vrai" produces a fruit that is slightly flattened at both ends or pear-shaped, the size of a large melon (up to 30 cm in diameter), weighing 500 g to 8 kg! These are the largest fruits of all citrus fruits (hence the botanical name), and their decorative effect is spectacular. The ripe, greenish-yellow skin is smooth, but its very thick (2 cm or more) rind (epicarp), with a spongy, cottony consistency, acts as a shock absorber for the fruit when it falls from the tree at maturity. It represents 30% of the fruit's weight. The mesocarp, composed of 11 to 18 slices (segments) separated by leathery, inedible membranes, contains vesicles more or less filled with a bitter, acidic juice that is not very pleasant to the taste. This particular flavor is due to a flavonoid glycoside: naringin (also found in bitter orange, the fruit of the bitter orange tree). Large winged seeds occupy the entire central part of the fruit. In many Southeast Asian countries, "true" grapefruit is commonly eaten as a dessert, sprinkled with salt. The fruit we eat under the name grapefruit is a hybrid (Citrus x paradisi) whose common name in French should be "Pomelo," from the Latin pomum-melo = apple-melon. But the confusion is compounded by the fact that in English, "pomelo" refers to Citrus maxima; the "sweet" grapefruit is called grapefruit; this name is given because of its acidic flavor, reminiscent of unripe grapes, and because it fruits in clusters. The pomelo grapefruit is a hybrid discovered in Barbados in the eighteenth century. It is a natural cross between the sweet orange (Citrus × sinensis) and the true grapefruit (Citrus maxima), introduced from Asia a century earlier. Citrus x paradisi is a small tree, averaging 5 to 6 m tall, but some trees exceed 10 m. The glossy green evergreen leaves measure up to 15 cm long. The white flowers, about 5 cm long, are formed of 4 or 5 fragrant petals. The yellow fruit, whose rind is similar in thickness to that of most oranges, forms a sphere 10 to 15 cm in diameter and weighs 300 to 600 g, depending on the variety. The fruit is segmented into 9 to 14 sections with thin membranes, containing a juicy and fragrant pulp, white, pink, or red depending on the cultivar (the redder varieties are the sweeter). White grapefruit is particularly rich in vitamin C: it contains as much as an orange but provides half the sugar. It is composed of 90% water, 8% carbohydrates, and 1% protein. It provides 33 kilocalories per 100 g, which is very low (half as much as cherries, figs, or passion fruit, for example). For citrus fruits, fruit color is not a reliable indicator of their ripeness for harvest. The green color only disappears after exposure to cool nights, between 4 and 10°C for grapefruit. Grapefruit and grapefruit are subtropical plants that are quite sensitive to cold (minimum -3°C) and require high temperatures and abundant sunlight to ripen their fruit. Thank you for watching. We hope you enjoyed this short video interlude and enjoyed your time with us. Join us every evening from 7 p.m. for a new program: "LE QUOTIDIEN DU JARDIN" (Garden Daily). It's on NewsJardinTV and nowhere else! In issue 414, we will answer the following question: Is it possible to grow mirabelle plums in the Aix-en-Provence region? I love these fruits, but I don't see them in the gardens around my house...