Robab Tenga : A Big Citrus Fruit

Robab-Tenga is a very delicious and popular citrus fruit from Assam.It is very similar to a Pomelo and Grapefruit .It tastes sweet and sour and is a favorite amongst my family members specially the kids and me.It weighs around 1-1.5 kg at times,has a greenish yellow pitted outer covering.It is considered very auspicious to offer this fruit to God in many rituals and at the time of some specific festivals.I have tasted this fruit in some other parts of India too like Arunachal and once in Karnataka but the one we get here in Assam is the best in taste .It is highly recommended to handle this fruit very carefully because if treated roughly it gets bitter in taste,i had two very over enthusiastic volunteers to hold the fruit while i was about to click the picture( my kids),but the weight of the fruit was little heavier for them to balance,the result was shaky pictures.Finally i settled for this picture where i stuck Robab Tenga between two large spaced bars of grill.

We peel this fruit only minutes before we want to consume it because it gets bitter once you store it after pilling off.As you can see it has about an inch thick spongy cushion like inner covering......God's perfect packaging to save its taste getting bitter from minor falls and bumps.The inside fruit varies in color from a light pink to a dark pink .I divide the fruit into two parts and slit the back of the fruit one after another section....as you open up the fruits ,large seeds are discarded and the pulp(????or the fruit) is removed very carefully from the thin covering.....as you can see in the picture.To this we add a little salt,chopped green chillies(after removing kid's portion) and a teaspoon of mustard oil which gives it the final punch....no more pictures after this stage we don't want to get this treat bitter .

This year the price of this fruit is doubled,i don;t know why? Last season we paid 5 bucks for one while this year it was 10 bucks.We have many trees of this in our village house so we do get our more than fair share from time to time during the season.Have you seen or tasted this fruit before?If yes,share your experience if not you are welcome to Assam ,but be sure of this time of the year(SEP---NOV).