APPEARANCE Rating: 




Angular crimson red fruit that has leathery looking skin; small garnet jewels inside divided by a cream colored webbed membrane.
AROMA Rating: 




Woodsy and sweet; reminds me of pine and cranberries, so basically it smells like Christmas, which I am trying to hold on to for just a few more days.
TEXTURE Rating: 




Juicy, snappy little fruit bits with a prominent edible seed inside (technically called “arils”).
TASTE Rating: 




Perfectly balanced tart and sweet flavor. Reminiscent of cranberries and grapes.
OVERALL Overall Rating: 




Pomegranates are just a lot of work to eat. I like them but they just require so much energy and focus that I tend to avoid them. Even after the seeds are all broken out of the web (which is the messiest and best part) they are still a pain with those huge seeds. I don’t like the seeds, so I tend to spit them out and then have to deal with where to spit them and whether anyone saw me spit it, etc. It’s just a bother and I really can’t be bothered with a bother these days.
FRUIT
Pomegranate
VARIETY
Wonderful
PEAK
Fall-Winter
GROWN
California
PURCHASED
Farmer’s Market
NOTES
This is the section where I usually write cool stuff about the fruit (and there is plenty about pomegranates to be found as it is a religious symbol in every major faith, but I am not going there this holiday season. Feel free to go there yourself though — click) but today I just want to list off the amazing vocabulary words and fun phrases I found while perusing the wikipedia entry for pomegranate. Woot woot for big words. Try using these in conversation today. You will seem smarter and I will feel proud. Here we go:
Transcaucasia —Mom! My transcaucasia hurts!
Salutiferous to mankind — If you salutiferous me one more time I’m going to have to smack you.
Carbonized exocarp — Is your carbonized exocarp as bloated as mine is?
Sweet-fatty — Oh that? That’s a sweet-fatty. Don’t touch it.
John Tradescant the elder — Hello, my name is Fruit Maven the Elder. And you would be??
A trick to seeding pomegranates is to section them into quarters or sixths and then soak them chunks in cold water. they practically fall out of the skins.
Ohh – good to know for the next time I want the whole arils. I’ve been trying a very barbaric method to get at the juice lately. You basically manhandle the thing and break the pods inside by squeezing it thoroughly. Then once it feels mushy, you poke a hole in it and squeeze out the juice. It’s kind of therapeutic.