Shatian pomelo
The Shatian pomelo is a leading product of the Three-high”
agricultural strategy of GuangdongProvince and a special pomelo
typical of Meixian County, Guangdong. It is renowned as golden
pomelo” because it matures in the golden fall of October and has a
golden appearance. The golden pomelo features large fruit, nice
appearance, bright yellow fruit color, crisp, sweet and tasty
flesh, high juice content, sweet honey flavor, high nutrition and
medicinal value, and has been known as the King of Fruits”. Since
it withstands long storage and transport, and can be stored for
half a year without any flavor change in naturally ventilated
conditions, so it is also known as natural can”. According to the
test and analysis of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, the golden pomelo juice contains 14%-16% of soluble
solids, 12.68% of whole sugar and 0.368% of organic acids. Every
100mL of juice contains 104.6mg of vitamin C, twice higher than
sweet orange and 4 times higher tangerines. It also contains
proteins, fat, vitamins B1, B2, E and P and mineral elements
essential to human, such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sulfur
and sodium. It is thought in Chinese medicine that the golden
pomelo can reduce phlegm, arrest cough and promote digestion, and
is effective in the treatment of deficiency of food and
tastelessness among pregnant women, removing malignant qi in the stomach, relieving the toxic effect of alcohol, and
removing odors in the mouth of drinkers. It is recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica that the golden pomelo flower is rich in volatile aromatic oils;
it not only has the effects of promoting the circulation of qi, eliminating phlegm and easing pains, but also can produce
prolonged moisturization and brilliance when made into a facial
cream; the pomelo peel is acrid and bitter to taste, and mild in
nature, and its functions include reducing phlegm, arresting cough,
regulating the flow of qi and easing pains, so the pomelo peel can be used as medicine.
After the pomelo peel is made into candies, the naringenin
contained in it has the anti-spasm effect, which is consistent with
Li Shizhen’s view that the pomelo peel can disperse the qi of anger”. In recent years, scientists have made further studies
into the golden pomelo using modern scientific and technological
means, and found that the golden pomelo contains large amounts of
amino acids, vitamins C and B1 and carotene essential to human, as
well as plenty of naringin, which is a natural plant flavone.
Naringin has such effects as fighting inflammations, and reducing
blood fat and blood viscosity, and is a specific drug for treating
cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The pomelo fruit also
contains 7-8% of natural pectin, which not only has many healthcare
functions, such as reducing blood sugar and blood fat, fighting
cancers and bacteria, detoxification, hemostasis, regulating the
intestinal tract, preventing and curing diabetes, obesity and
cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but also has excellent
gelation, thickening, emulsification and stabilization effects, so
it can be applied widely to the production of foodstuffs, drugs and
cosmetics, and also be used as a biochemical reagent. By now,
processed products of the golden pomelo, such as the golden pomelo
liquor, the golden pomelo tea and the golden pomelo buccal tablets,
have been successfully developed in Meizhou.
