Pomegranates

Has anyone of my blogger friends out there ever try a pomegranate? I did once but never bought one for my family. Well as you might know, they are in season. My grocery store just got some here in Michigan. There in season from August till November and are very popular for people to have them in their home around the holidays.

So I thought I'd buy a couple for myself and for my family to try. Then the wheels started turning and I thought why not share this with my bloggy buddies.

I looked up on the Internet on how to slice a pomegranate. I did some research on them to. I also took some pictures for you.

How to slice & prepare your pomegranate;

-First wash the fruit of course.

-Put on apron and paper towels on cutting board. Pomegranate will stain and will not come out with bleach on anything! I cut one in 1/2 just to show you what it looks like inside. But do not cut it in 1/2.

-Use a sharp knife. The skin looks tough like a squash but you'll be surprised how easily a knife slices the fruit.

-You will slice a little off the top and the bottom of the fruit. With the fruit laying on it's side, you will carefully then score the skin from one end of the fruit to the other just until you get through the skin and into the white part just beneath the skin. You will score the fruit five times around one fruit. I could only find four sections in my fruit so I just put the fifth slice where I thought it should go. See pic...

-Then your going to put your pomegranate in a large bowl in your sink. Fill it with cold water. Let it sit for five to ten minutes.

-Then your going to start to break apart the wedges and start rubbing the seeds out with your thumbs. I was surprised again how easy it was to break apart the wedges. The seeds were pretty easy to get out but took a little time.

Make sure you rub the seeds out under the water though so the juice won't stain anything. As you can see in the photo, the seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the pulp and skin will stay afloat on top of the water.

After your done with the seeds your going to use a very small strainer like the photo below to scoop up the white pulp and the skin out of the bowl and discard the fruit remnants.

Then your going to pour the water and the seeds into another colander. Rinse the seeds in the colander. Pick out any remaining white pulp. The pulp reminds me of a dry sponge, type texture. Then enjoy! You eat the whole seed. They look like little rubies.

Just some tidbits for you about the pomegranate fruit...

-It has three times more antioxidants than green tea and red wine.

-A pomegranate tree can live up to 100 years.

-Pomegranates is the oldest fruit in the world.

-Pomegranates are mentioned in the old testament in the book of Deuteronomy in the Holy Bible.

-Pomegranates holds different symbolism's in different religions. For Christianity you will find in religious paintings (by Sandro Botticelli & Leonardo da Vinci) Mother Mary or the Infant Jesus holding a pomegranate. In the paintings the skin of the fruit will be broken or bursting open which is suppose to symbolise Jesus' suffering and resurrection.

-Pomegranates are not that popular in America because people think that the fruit is to hard to eat.

-First records of the fruit date back to 100 B.C. where it was thought to be a native to Persia.

-Pomegranates keep your heart healthy. It's helps to prevent cancer. It also keeps platelets from clumping together to form dangerous blood clots.

So go and eat a pomegranate today! Signing off...from Peek-A-Boo Street. Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite, sleep tight all right?