Long live the ancient fruit - Pomegranate

Before everyone think that all  I am is a "murderer", my mother's favorite name for me after I failed to grant clemency to the roses, I do not kill everything on the land. Just outside the walls of the courtyard garden is proof - a large Pomegranate Tree, punica grantum. It is believed that the pomegranate was the forbidden fruit that Eve ate in the garden of Eden and not the "apple."Native to modern day Iran, it spread to Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe. Today, it is touted as a great source of antioxidants. 

Pomegranates are fruits that I want to love more..... In fact, I love drinking pomegranate juice, pomegranate seeds in salads, pomegranate syrup in Fesenjen; a delicious Persian pomegranate and walnut chicken stew, pomegranate piled high in a fruit bowl.....But, there is only so much pomegranate one can eat. I need to find more recipes for them. Apart from the huge tree in Temecula, I have 3 other pomegranate trees in my current house - 2 regular red pomegranate and 1 white pomegranate. I must have given away more than 150 fruits in December alone!!

9/5/11 The fruits are starting to turn red in color.

"Look how many fruits there" are says the woman who calls me "Murderer."

10/21/11 Fruits are ripening. Have to harvest some so that others can grow bigger.

10/21/11 

10/21/11 Tree is heavy with tons of beautiful red fruits

10/21/11

The pomegranate are on the red wood lattice were the roofing material of the back patio, which we replaced with the polycarbonate roofing. We are planning to reuse the lattice in our garden.

Heavy fruits each between 1/2 to almost 1lb each.

10/21/11

11/18/11 The weather is colder, the leaves are yellowing and starting to drop off. The Pomegranate is a deciduous tree.

11/18/11 The fruits are almost too ripe

11/18/11 The birds have been busy helping themselves to the fruits! 

11/18/11 The eaten fruits look perfect for a bird nest!!

I thought I had pluck 2 big beautiful fruit only to find one of them had been hollowed out by the birds!


This year I gave away more pomegranates than kept for ourselves. Next year, I want to find more recipes to incorporate them. I have tried extracting juice from them but it is so messy!! I am told the best way to juice them is with a citrus press. The one that works the best is this expensive baby from William Sonoma- the Breville Electric Citrus Press . I just think that is a lot of money for Pomegranate juice. I have an electric Braun citrus juicer but it just spins the fruit around. I do not have the strength to hold the fruit against the reamer as it spins!! So for now, I just eat those little jewels.