Similar in taste to a sweet grapefruit, the pomelo is commonly eaten and used for festive occasions throughout Southeast and East Asia.

The pomelo tree may be 5–15 meters (16–50 feet) tall, possibly with a crooked trunk 10–30 centimeters (4–12 inches) thick, and low-hanging, irregular branches.

Their leaf petioles are distinctly winged, with alternate, ovate or elliptic shapes 5–20 cm (2–8 in) long, with a leathery, dull green upper layer, and hairy under-leaf.

[4] The pomelo is significant botanically as one of the three major wild ancestors of several cultivated hybrid Citrus species, including the bitter orange and the grapefruit; and less directly also of the lemon, the sweet orange, and some types of mandarin.

[13] One theory for the alternative English name 'shaddock' is that it was adopted after the plant's introduction into Barbados by a 'Captain Shaddock' of the East India Company (apparently Philip Chaddock, who visited the island in the late 1640s).

[17] The fruit is called jambola in varieties of English spoken in South Asia,[4] and jabong in Hawai'i.

A 100-gram reference amount provides 159 kilojoules (38 kilocalories) of food energy, and is rich in vitamin C (68% of the Daily Value), with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

[4] In East Asia, especially in Cantonese cuisine, braised pomelo pith is used to make dishes that are high in fibre and low in fat.

Its name is similar to the word for "to have" (有, yǒu), making it a symbol of prosperity and family unity.

Devotees offer their prayers to the Sun God and seek the deity's blessing for a prosperous and healthy life.