About 10 years ago, we started hearing about the health benefits of pomegranate juice. Once considered an exotic fruit in American markets, pomegranates quickly became mainstream with pomegranate juice drinks available in all manner of forms.
Pomegranates as an ingredient aren't new to American kitchens at all. Grenadine, a classic cocktail ingredient, is sweetened pomegranate syrup. It's just the fruit itself that's been a little harder to find.
Pomegranates are one of the most ancient of fruits, cultivated for thousands of years. Georgia isn’t full of pomegranate orchards, but in Spalding County, Jeff Collins started his own small pomegranate orchard. He put in 10 trees about four years ago and is planning to plant more. Collins sells his produce at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market as Farmer Jeff.
“I’m always interested in growing unusual or different things and thought I’d try pomegranates. I wanted something that would give me a fall crop and require minimal care,” he told me.
His 10 trees are a variety of Russian pomegranates and produce fruit with pale skins, not the dark red pomegranate we see most often. Collins harvested his first fruit last year.
“Because of the pale skin, it’s hard to know when these pomegranates are ripe. Unlike other fruits, the pomegranate doesn’t fall off the tree when it’s ripe. I even left one on just to see what would happen and it sort of exploded. But the fruit stayed on the tree,” he told me.
Last year, Collins got about one pomegranate per tree. This year, he had enough fruit to be able to sell his local pomegranates at market.
Pomegranates grow to be small multitrunked trees with colorful and unusual fleshy blossoms in the spring and small oval leaves that turn bright yellow in the fall. To decide if his pale red pomegranates are ripe, Collins nicks a little hole in the leathery skin looking for the arils to have turned bright red.
When people say they’re eating pomegranate “seeds,” they are really eating pomegranate arils, succulent sacs roughly the shape of a corn kernel that surround the actual pomegranate seed. Getting those arils out neatly is the toughest job you’ll face when you’re ready to eat your pomegranate.
I’ve read at least a half-dozen methods for removing the arils, including cutting the fruit in half, turning it upside down over a bowl and hitting it with a wooden spoon to knock the arils out. My preferred method is to score the skin and break the pomegranates into sections. I lay out a dish towel, set the fruit and a bowl on the towel and sit down to spend a pleasant 10 or 15 minutes carefully removing the arils from their tight quarters. The thin white pith that surrounds the arils is bitter and should be discarded.
If you don’t want to spend that much time, pomegranate arils in plastic containers are appearing in the produce section of many grocery stores.
A whole pomegranate, refrigerated, can keep for a month if it’s truly fresh. Otherwise, use your pomegranate within a week or so.
At local farmers markets
Cooking demonstration
10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. Chef Anne Quatrano of Bacchanalia. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
For sale
Vegetables and fruit: arugula, Asian greens, beans, beets, broccoli, broccoli raab, butternut squash, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, collards, dandelion, escarole, fennel, field peas, garlic, hareuki and other turnips, herbs, kale, lettuce, mache, mizuna, mustard greens, peanuts, pecans, peppers, persimmons, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, radicchio, rutabagas, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes
From local reports
Root Vegetable and Pomegranate Salad
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Pomegranate syrup is a wonderful sweet-and-sour addition to the dressing. I tested this recipe with pomegranate syrup from Monin, available online at www.moninstore.com. No pomegranate syrup? You can double up on the lemon juice and add a few drops of grenadine.
2 medium golden beets, peeled
3 large carrots, peeled
1/2 small head celeriac, peeled
5 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pomegranate, seeded
Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, very thinly slice the beets, carrots and celeriac. Set aside.
In a small jar, make dressing by combining olive oil, parsley, lemon juice, pomegranate syrup and pepper flakes. Shake to combine, then taste for seasoning. Pour dressing over sliced vegetables and arrange on serving platter. Scatter pomegranate seeds over salad and serve immediately.
Adapted from "The Naked Chef Takes Off" by Jamie Oliver (Hyperion, $34.95).
Per serving: 215 calories (percent of calories from fat, 69), 2 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 17 grams fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 103 milligrams sodium.
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