Grown since ancient times, pomegranates have never been made easy to consume, and mostly are used for juice. [As I’m writing this a Pom commercial appeared on my TV. Really.] My back-fence neighbor has a pomegranate tree, so every year this time I get a few. Might be the last food plant growing here that I haven’t written about yet. It’s a beautiful tree in spring.
Some years I think the squirrels get most of them. Anything they can reach becomes just a shell with a hole in each side.
Wiki says it’s a myth that Granada, Spain was named for the fruit, but that’s what I was taught growing up in Granada (Hills), California. AFAIK Granada Hills was never pomegranate-growing territory, before being paved it was citrus and olive groves.
Persian cuisine is probably the main user of pomegranate for real cooking; chicken, beef or lamb are marinated in pomegranate juice or use it in the sauce. I’m going with American-style recipes that use the fresh seeds since they’re in season.
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Pomegranate Fizzies
from sunset.com — serves 4
1 bottle (750 ml.) cold extra-dry sparkling wine or sparkling apple juice
About 2/3 cup cold unsweetened pomegranate juice
About 2 1/2 tbsp. pomegranate seeds
Fill wine flutes three-quarters full with sparkling wine. Add a generous splash of pomegranate juice to each, and drop in 1 tsp. pomegranate seeds.
[Nice how the the recipe specifies “flutes” then they photograph it in the wide flat champagne glasses.]
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Christmas Pomegranate Salad
from allrecipes.com — serves 2
3 cups leafy salad green mix
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
1/4 cup bottled cranberry or raspberry vinaigrette
Toss leafy greens, pomegranate seeds, blue cheese, and walnuts together in a medium-sized salad bowl. Add cranberry vinaigrette just before serving.
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Actually for dinner here is a Mexican dish I intend to write about later.
What’s for dinner at your place? Maybe you can tell us about it for a future WFD? Message ninkasi23 about that.