New Years Breakfast

Breakfast. Photo by Jordan

Pomelos, are for the most part something I would never buy. Maybe I would pick one up in Chinatown if I was feeling flush and lucky, but the cost is prohibtive, so I stick to grapefruit when I'm feeling like a large cirtrus.

Here, we have a pomelo tree. There is actually a whole orchard. There are limes, lemons, oranges, star fruit, avocados, pomelos, tangelos, tangarines, papayas and mangos (maybe others stuff too).

We are next to a guava plantation. In the guava plantation there is a jackfruit tree, which is pretty exciting as most Nothern Americans will never see one and if they are lucky enough to taste jackfruit it is likely from a can.

Anyway, pomelos, or Chinese grapefruit, pummelo, pommelo, jabong, or shaddock.

So I'm going to work with them. After I got tired of just soaking them in rum, this is what we made for New Year Breakfast:

Candied Pomelo Peel
(1) Peel pomelo, taking care to remove as much of the pith as possible, and reserve fruit for another use. Cut the peel into 1⁄4-inch-wide strips. Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the pomelo peel and
(2) blanch for 1 minute. Remove peel and drain. Repeat 3 times, changing water each time (this removes some of the peel’s bitterness). After the third blanching, refill pot with 2 cups fresh water and 2 cups sugar. Dissolve sugar over medium-low heat. Bring to a boil, add the peel back to the pot, and reduce heat to low until the peel is translucent and almost no liquid remains, about 1 hour. Remove the peel from the pot and
(3) cool on a wire rack. Toss in granulated sugar (or dip in melted chocolate). Store in airtight container for up to one week.

I think this recipe was from NY magazine.

The recipe worked, but Kauai is pretty humid and they never really turned into a solid candy. They remained pretty sticky and floppy.

But, they were a nice garnish for our New Years Breakfast:

FrenchToast with Pomelo Syrup
French Toast:
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
* 4 (3-inch) slices of any bread you choose
* 2 tablespoons butter
* Black pepper
* 1 teaspoon salt

Mix it up and use the butter to fry up the french toast.

pomelo syrup

Pomelo Syrup
1/2 cup pomelo juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
a bit of pepper
1/4 cup of sugar
a wee bit of red pepper flakes (optional)

mix, add to sauce pan and reduce for 20 minutes over medium heat.

mmmmmmm. . . .

Then there was the ultimate mimosa. To make it you have to get up at dawn, in Kauai, pick clemintines and oranges, juice them and them mix them with Veuve Clicuot. I would never normally mix that bubbly with anything, but the juice was equal to the champagne. It was a lovely morning.