Are some fruits just not worth the trouble? I believe that the time has come for us a society to agree to retire pomegranates -- which started popping up at grocery stores over the past two weeks.
The fruit, typically in season from October to January, will be the subject of cocktail recipes and lauded for its antioxidant properties, but the act of removing the seeds makes you understand what life was like with Hades.
It is also difficult to trust a fruit that doesn't ripen once it's picked -- it makes you suspicious, like cheese you don't need to refrigerate. Also, pomegranates should have been classified with the seeds rather than the fruits. With every other fruit, we pick out the seeds or core it to get at the edible flesh. With a pomegranate, you're forced to peel and hack at the flesh to separate out the seeds.
And the final pay-off isn't likely to be worth the effort, particularly early in the season when pomegranates tend are more tart than sweet. You want to pick fruits that are round, rich in color and without blemishes. However, two pomegranates that are identical in appearance could differ wildly in sweetness. It's like a fruit lottery, where the only potential winner is your compost heap.
With such a wide variety of fruit options, it would be OK to let this one fade into myth, something that we tell our grandchildren about in 30 years. The one they never believe about how grandpa used to spend hours attempting to get a single seed to garnish his salad.
[Image via Flickr: arthur chapman]
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as a matter of fact I am currently in posession of said candy,it comes out to $7 for 2lbs with coupon, pomegranate I think is around $6 for 1lb box
DUDE! Meesha, how much did those cost??? Forget it...I'm picking some up next week, whatever the amount may be. WOOHOO!
I also saw in their coupon circular this month that they have dark chocolate covered pom seeds there, and the coupon gives us $2.50 off a bag of them. I'm totally buying them for the antioxidant factors involved.
And oh yes, forgot to mention. For those pomegranate lovers out there, check out: www.planet-pomegranate.com.
Ah Jonathan my dear. You are so misguided and mistaken. There is NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING as beneficial, sexy, delicious and versatile as a pomegranate. I didn't think so until I wrote the cookbook "Pomegranates" (Ten Speed Press, 2004) and I became a convert. Give them a chance - don't you know that all great things in life are worth at least a little bit of effort???
One way to get all the seeds out is to cut the pomegranate in half and then smack the uncut half repeatedly with a big spoon. Possibly the only worthwhile thing I've seen on Iron Chef America.
sorry,artichokes do nothing for me. but luckily for all those who can't peel a pomegranate,I noticed this at costco today for the 1st time
http://twitpic.com/psw11
Meesha! Bite your tongue! Artichokes are delicious, dammit.
When we were kids, we hung out often at our friend Mary Flock's house. One of my favorite things about her place was the pomegranate tree across the street. Sometimes, we could knock them down with a broom, sometimes, we had to get her dad to help. But there was nothing better than the CRACK of that fruit on the street (couldn't break 'em on the driveway, since it would stain!), and then collecting our open fruit, and digging out those seeds.
I love pomegranate jelly, too. My mom used to have a friend that made us a couple of jars every year for Christmas. She originally only gave us one, until she heard how much I treasured it. I've tried to get Leo interested in making some for me this year, but it apparently takes a bushell of the fruit to make a batch, and I don't know if it'd be worth it!
I'm overjoyed that it's pomegranate season so I can start making salsa with them. Yes, it's a huge pain to get all the seeds out, but I think it's completely worth it.
actually pomegranates they sell here are sweet in comparison, my Mom made me eat real sour ones when I was a kid for their vitamin value. I like them now and so does my kid. Retire something else like artichokes, now that's a worthless hard-to-peel vegetable that tastes like crap
I for one, LOVE pomegranates and always will!
Yes, they're cumbersome and require effort to eat and yes, the last five years the crops have produced smaller fruits than normal, but THIS year, they're back to their normal size and sweet, fruity, greatness!
Don't bother to spit out the seeds, when the fruit is ripened correctly, they're tasteless within the "meat" (and they DO improve after a few days in the fridge).
FOOD OF THE GODS!
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