October 25, 2002
APPLE GRENADES:
Fresh pomegranates are poetic, colorful and juicy (AP, 10/25/02)Fresh pomegranates are available only September through December. Use the seeds and juice fresh during the fall and early winter, and freeze them for later use.The sweet-tart seeds and juice are packed inside the fruit's leathery outer skin. To remove them easily, cut the crown end off the pomegranate, then lightly score the rind from top to bottom five or six times around the fruit. Immerse the fruit in a bowl of water and soak 5 minutes. Hold the fruit under water, to prevent splattering, and break the sections apart.
Next, separate seeds from rind and membrane. Seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl; rind and membranes will float--skim them off and discard them.
Drain seeds, pat them dry, and they're ready to use.
Never could figure out how to eat the dang things. Here are a few recipes.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 25, 2002 10:55 AM
Mr. Judd, during a working venture to Abu Dhabi, UAE, I ate dinner at an Iranian restuarant and had some unbelievably tasty grilled chicken breast. The breast were basted with the Pomegranate syrup during cooking. Outstanding
Posted by: Tom Wall at October 25, 2002 9:49 PMIf only my Time Zone Rule weren't in effect...
Posted by: oj at October 25, 2002 9:51 PMAhh pomegranites. It's refreshing to see the AP so
wrong about something so easy to get right.
Pomegranites are supposed to be messy to eat (like lobster, it's just worth it). The trick to opening one is to place one's thumbs together on the side, press into the fruit, and break open like one would an egg (good thumbnails help here). This is best done at arm's length as the juice will fly (like squeezing a lemon).
Once opened (in roughly half), you then peel back the inner beige membranes to expose the burgundy "seeds", the burgundy part is actually the juice cell, the seed is within. You then scrape out the "seeds" and eat them, including the slightly crunchy seed within the juice cell. You'll need to continue to peel bak additional membranes as you work the fruit (it'll make sense when you have on in your hands).
The recipies link you provide suggests that one not eat the seeds (just the juice), this is decidedly incorrect.
When eating pomegranites at the house of some Armenian friends of mine I was asked by my friend's sister whether or not I (Mr. Western European dude) ate the seeds, or spit them out. I replied that I always ate them, to which she remarked "good. It's so wierd to see people spit them out and collect them on their plates--it's not like they're olive pits"
Since the Armenians are from the ancient lands where pomegranites grow (vs. FL & CA nowadays), I shall take their judgement as more correct. Just as one might ask a New Englander how to properly eat a lobster.
Now I have to try to find one in New Hampshire.
Posted by: oj at October 27, 2002 4:50 AMThe Lebanon Co-op has them ($1.29 ea on Monday 10/28) back by the kiwi fruit, starfruit, &c.
They're red, about baseball-sized (standard size outside Middle Eastern markets), leathery skin.
--Sean