Whenever you see TV chefs adding pomegranate seeds to some dish they make it look so easy – “just tap it with the back of a wooden spoon!”. So there I was the other night, tapping away, nothing happened except that I got red juice all over my hands and the counter. So I just ended up juicing the thing and drank that. Not bad (with a mild tang), but a lot of work (and money) to get some juice. I did try a few of the seeds I pried out of the fruit but it was rather fussy to eat it that way. At least I tried it, onto the next weird fruit.

Back when I was in high school, someone had a pomegranate and offered me some. These days, it’s the cool fruit that everyone is trying on the market, so it makes me look like I’m trendy. At least it caught onto the rest of the world, but I still love it. I even discovered Pomegranate Molasses at a local West Indian store. You can’t find it in your average grocery store, so check out those “Ethnic” stores in your neighbourhood. If you think it’s weird and strange and smells funny? Suck it up and go in.

^{Painting “Proserpina” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti; image from Wikipedia}

I first learned about pomegranates from the story called “Proserpina and Pluto” in this childhood classic. Now I remember why I googled the illustrator, Margaret Price Evans. (I could not remember yesterday when I wrote this entry on 43 Things.) I was looking for an illustration of Proserpina and her pomegranate, but I could not find one available by that particular artist on-line. However, I did find the above painting, which will do quite nicely.

I have eaten pomegranates before, but not often. They used to be rather rare, but are quite in fashion now for their juice. There are many things to learn about the pomegranate, and this article in wikipedia is a good start. I have fairly recently learned to eat the seeds, and that does make eating it much simpler.

Are you suppose to eat the seeds?

I can see why Persephone couldn’t turn down Hades’ pomegranates.

Yes, they are tedious to eat…I like the juice much better. So expensive, though!

The taste of this fruit is, in my opinion, reminiscent of cranberries. It can be a bit of work to eat this fruit since it is full of seeds, each one encased in some of the fleshy part of the fruit. However, I think it is worth the effort. This fruit was considered an aphrodisiac in ancient Egypt.