Sibu Tales : Pomelo - Pink and White

The pomelo was a fruit brought over to Sibu from Minqing, Fujian by Wong Nai siong and his fellow pioneers.

Ever since then, the Rajang Valley has been cultivated with pomelo trees, although not in a large scale. Similarly, the green tangerines, have also been cultivated but due to natural climatic conditions and the extra-ordinary pests which these two semi temperate fruits are susceptible to, their cultivation do not have the greatest success the Foochows would like to see. So, as if by choice, these two fruits are rather touch and go category, while are more stable fruits like pineapples,durians, coconuts, mangoes , mangosteens etc are the preferred fruits for cash cropping. The green tangerines seem to thrive in the Bintangor area and the pomelo in the Ensurai-Kwang Hua area.


However the pomelo remains a favoured fruit. Some are extremelyu juicy and sweet, while some are dry and fairly edible.

The most famous pomelo is the small, hand sized Moh Moh Pow, which has small hairs on its skin but some also attribute it to the second headman of the Sibu Foochow pioneers, my grand uncle, Lau Kah Tii, whose nick name was Moh Moh. How true it is, he is not here to tell us.