Youzi 柚子: China's "super grapefruit"

[abcdefg]

Youzi 柚子，sometimes translated as pomelo or shaddock, is one of the foods typically associated with Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节, which arrives tomorrow. The formal name for this luxurious fruit is "citrus maximus" and that's a good fit because it's much larger than a grapefruit, nearly the size of a bowling ball or cantaloupe. In fact, it's the biggest member of the citrus family.

 

When I went to the market yesterday, they were everywhere I looked, fresh and cheap. Now is the start of their season (they aren't available in summer.) I bought one and wanted to show you how it worked out.

 

The youzi lady helped me pick out a good one: heavy for its size and firm all over with no soft spots. Hers were from Fujian 福建,  though we also get them brought up from Hainan 海南。This fruit is actually popular all over SE Asia, but is not found much in the West. She asked if I wanted it peeled or not, and I asked her to do the honors and save me some work. She scored it with a large knife, cutting through the tough rind barely into the white pith. Then she separated the center with a large flat plastic spoon and lifted it out. Often a "cooked rice scoop" is used for this, the kind that came free in the same box as your rice steamer. 

 

 

 

If I had been a bit more ambitious, I would have asked her to give me the rind. It can be turned into fantastic marmalade, or dried and candied as a sweet snack. I usually have a large jar of the marmalade in the fridge year round. The best of it comes from Korea and is made with honey instead of white sugar. It goes by the name of "youzi cha" 柚子茶 here, and stirring a spoon or two of it into hot water makes a refreshing warm drink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the center of the youzi as it looked when I got it home. I tore it in half and removed the bitter white pith from several sections. The chopsticks are just for size, they aren't necessarily needed when eating it. Fingers or a fork are just fine.

 

 

 

I had also purchased a bag of fresh Mandarin oranges, since they are at their best now also. Even though I usually just eat yozi plain, today I decided to make a pretty salad because my ladyfriend was coming over to bring me a gift of some Mooncake 月饼。Peeled a couple oranges and pulled them apart into sections. Dug out some youzi in a similar manner, freeing it up from the tough segmental membranes.

 

 

 

 

Tossed it together with some fresh mint 薄荷 and a sprinkle of gouqi berries 枸杞 (aka "wolfberry.") Set it out with some toothpicks 牙签 to use as utensils. Youzi has a mild taste, with less tang and bite than grapefruit. It's a mellow companion for orange slices with enough taste contrast between the two to make the combination interesting. I've also seen it served with cucumber slices and a vinaigrette dressing.

 

 

 

That was fine enough for us just as shown above, and we enjoyed nibbling it together at the living room table. Hard to go wrong with something that is this pretty as well as tasty. But I'll go ahead and show you how to "gild the lily" if you want to take it a step or two further sometime just for fun.

 

 

 

Mix two tablespoons of citrus jam, here I'm using one made from lemon, with one tablespoon of Cointreau. This makes an unparalleled tangy-sweet dipping sauce. Shake some ground red pepper and salt into another shallow dish beside it. First dip a piece of fruit into the sauce, then barely touch it to the salt and hot pepper. The contrasting flavors make your mouth oddly happy, although admittedly this treatment is not going to please everyone.

 

Regardless of how you use it, youzi is a very worthwhile addition to your citrus fruit repertory. And now is the perfect time to enjoy it. Not only is it part of this holiday season, it's something that can stand on its own admirably all through the cooler part of the year.

 

[lips]

The white pith is commonly eaten as well:

 

http://www.meishij.net/柚子皮 (in Chinese)

[abcdefg]

Well, I'll be darned! Didn't know that, @lips. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll try using some in a cooked dish tomorrow. Will report back after.

 

不要浪费！

[889]

Am I the only one who's never bought a decent one of these: they're always tough and dry inside and I feel like a fool each time for having bought one again.

 

Only exceptions have been the somewhat expensive ones with pink fruit from Thailand, when bought in Thailand.

 

That is, you skipped over the most important part: how to choose a good one!

[imron]

Youzi are great!  One of my favourite fruits.  889, you've just been unlucky.

 

 

2 hours ago, abcdefg said:

不要浪费！

是极大的犯罪

 

 

[abcdefg]

On 10/3/2017 at 2:29 PM, 889 said:

That is, you skipped over the most important part: how to choose a good one!

 

Hmm, quote:

 

On 10/3/2017 at 12:57 PM, abcdefg said:

The youzi lady helped me pick out a good one: heavy for its size and firm all over with no soft spots.

 

Choosing one that is dense usually means it is more juicy, less dry. I always heft several though I don't bring my own scale. (Some local grannies actually take one along when they shop.) The skin can be mottled or discolored and that doesn't matter, but it should be smooth, without wrinkles. And there should not be any soft spots. Those are signs of old fruit; some that has been on the shelf too many days. More and more vendors are displaying it wrapped in cellophane or plastic, since those measures seem to extend freshness. The grower wraps them at the time of harvest. I usually pick one of those if available.

 

Quote

Only exceptions have been the somewhat expensive ones with pink fruit from Thailand, when bought in Thailand.

 

I like those too. Often pink ones are a little more tart, which I personally appreciate. They are available in Kunming, often being sold as 红肉柚子。

 

[abcdefg]

I sent the above youzi article to a friend in Canada, who just now wrote back to tell me that sadly he cannot eat them because they interfere with his meds. Since they are a member of the grapefruit family, there are indeed some drug interactions. For example, if you take lipid-lowering meds, popular in the US, youzi are not for you. Might not hurt to do a quick Google check if you are on daily medication.

 

In some cases they inactivate an enzyme that is responsible for breaking down the medication so that it can be excreted. This lets levels accumulate in the body and get too high. That's why these fruits shouldn't be eaten if you are taking "statins." In other cases they interfere with the absorption of the medication, resulting in sub-therapeutic levels.

 

Sometimes the interference is only a little and doesn't matter much, but other times it's major and can get you in trouble.

[889]

Oh, I can heft away with the best of them looking for the one with the most juice inside, but nonetheless I always seem to end up with the booby prize pomelo. I thought maybe there was a secret incantation or something.

 

The segmented fruit in the plastic tray at the supermarket is usually a better bet, since you more or less can see what you're getting.

[ZhangKaiRong]

I became addicted to 柚子 when I was in China. It was my staple afternoon snack. In our campus, there was a friendly old man was selling all kinds of fruits, according to the respective season, and youzi started to appear just after our trip to Beijing during the Mid-Autumn Festivel. I became one of his 老顾客, and he taught me how to spot which youzi are the freshest and most delicious. That knowledge is still useful, as I'm the one at home responsible for buying pomelo

[stapler]

I've been 'forced' to eat a lot of this fruit lately. I'm going to go against the grain and here and say I'm not particularly fond of it. Especially when compared to the 橘子!

 

Anyway thank you for this post as no one has been able to tell me the Mandarin name for this fruit. Mystery solved.

[abcdefg]

14 hours ago, 889 said:

I thought maybe there was a secret incantation or something.

 

Haha! Must burn more incense to the youzi gods.

 

13 hours ago, stapler said:

Especially when compared to the 橘子!

 

We are starting to get a variety of fresh citrus fruit now here in Kunming. It's that time of year. Oranges and tangerines in several varieties and sizes. I love them all!

 

I usually cut thin strips of orange peel from the ones I eat at home, carefully avoiding the bitter white pith. Dry it in a basket for two or three days using indirect sun, and then save it in a large jar to season stir fries and stews. Adds a nice touch of tang. Also sometimes add a piece of it to a cup of chrysanthemum tea.

 

Just noticed a couple days ago, however, that the guys selling fresh orange juice from a cart on my neighborhood streets have raised their prices again. A cup of juice, squeezed fresh on the spot, was only 5 Yuan for the longest time. Now it is 6 or even 7.  Next year or the one after that, I suppose it might go all the way up to 10.

[geraldc]

Tradition dictates that eventually you will create a hat from the pomelo and either put it on yourself, your child or a pet. Here my daughter models a crash helmet from the pomelo that we bought for Mid Autumn festival.

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她可爱死了！

[Alex_Hart]

Adorable picture @geraldc!

 

@abcdefgThanks for the post - a favorite fruit of mine. We get so many varieties of 柚子 here in Hangzhou, as well as 椪柑 and 橘子. Seems like way more than the US (at least in normal markets). My girlfriend's hometown in western Zhejiang is actually totally dependent on their local variety of 柚子. Every 农村 near the town is covered in hills with 柚子 as people are still subsistence farmers, then make money on the youzi. The big gift for golden week was bottles of juice made from the local youzi - some 农村  started making it this year and it's been a massive hit. They're not ripe yet however, so we're getting southern ones right now.

[abcdefg]

9 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

The big gift for golden week was bottles of juice made from the local youzi - some 农村  started making it this year and it's been a massive hit.

 

I've never tried the juice. Sounds good. I'll be on the lookout for some.

 

The big golden week gift here was a large bag of the youzi fruit itself. It has been replaced now, only a week later, by a big bag of pomegranates 石榴。 Youzi has taken a back seat.

[Alex_Hart]

10 hours ago, abcdefg said:

I've never tried the juice. Sounds good. I'll be on the lookout for some.

I tried finding it on taobao but it was a failure. I think it might just be a local company, I asked my girlfriend but she says it has to be refrigerated.

 

We've followed the same path as you. Nice sized 柚子 was 20 kuai a week ago, today they are 11 (6.5 for week old ones!). Amazing how fast the seasons are here - two weeks ago it was 橘柑, 柚子 last week and pomegranate now. The local 柚子 will be back around 过年.