A pomegranate is filled with rubies when you open it up. ~ Lynda Resnick
Pomegranates. Big red balls bursting with tiny seed-like berries.
We Brooklyn kids used to call “Chinese apples.” Chomping into those juicy red berries . . . what a mess my cousins and I made eating them!
All grown up now, I’ve learned Middle Easterners have cultivated pomegranates from antiquity. In fact, China is only one of several countries around the world where these beautiful fruit now grow.
And now that I’ve spent an amazing 10 days in Israel, I’m a bigger fan of pomegranates than ever before.
Because Israel truly is a “land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates …” (Deuteronomy 8:8). In that country, pomegranates are everywhere:
In desserts.
In savory dishes,
like this couscous concoction.
Now, THIS looks like a dish worth trying at home!
Pomegranates in various shades of red call out to us from most every fruit stand. (Typically, with a gaggle of citrus fruit looking on nearby.)
Now, have you ever tasted freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice?
Well, if you’ve ever mixed pomegranate with cranberry juice ~ and liked it ~ you have got to go and spend some time in the cafes of old Jerusalem.
They squeeze the fruit right there and serve it to you straight up in a glass.
Perhaps, like me, you’d rather not have sweet drinks with your meals.
If that’s the case, you might find pomegranate juice a good alternative to red wine. The taste is slightly bitter and like red wine, it’s loaded with anti-oxidants.
Alright, then; that makes it official. The original passion fruit is also a SUPERfruit!
***
Now that I’m back in New Mexico, I’m looking forward to satisfying my passion for pomegranate with a smoothie at my local natural food store. And if you can do the same as a store near you…
… join me?
Yes, I’ll join you!! I remember those beautiful HUGE pomegranates, which I first got to meet in Mexico, but nowhere near as big as those in Israel. Say when!
Some of the vendors display their pomegranates like jewels, large groups of them, all red and shiny . . . remember? However you enjoyed them in Mexico is likely available here in the Mexican cuisine-rich Mesilla Valley, too, come late summer. And “when” is after Bataan March!
Confession: I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a pomegranate. I’ve had the juice, but I can’t remember eating a fruit. Looks like I need to go on a food adventure 🙂 First in the USA and then in Israel!
Pomegranates are plentiful enough in California ~ but I recommend Israel! 😉