Opening and Preparing a Pomegranate
Thanks to a well-positioned bin, along with a well-designed informational brochure, Liz and I picked up a pomegranate while shopping at Strack last weekend. Neither one of us had really had one before, and Liz wanted to try one out.
First step in opening up a pomegranate: cut off the top.
Next up – take a small knife and score a few lines down each of the sections (there will likely be 4 or 6 visible sections).
Next, peel out each section.
Inside the pomegranate are a ton of arils, which are the thing you eat. They’re a bit like tiny cranberries – each one has a small, tart burst of fruityness, but with a bit of seed inside. For one pomegranate, there were an incredible number of arils inside.
The recommendation for separating the arils out was to drop the individual arils into a bowl of water. Then, after all the arils were removed… you could take a spoon and remove any pieces of pulp that rose to the surface.
Here’s where my English Lit background comes into play. As a mythological sidenote (I read a lot of mythology as a kid) – Persephone was a Greek goddess (daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain/fertility) who was abducted by Hades (god of the Underworld). While she was held captive there, she ate nothing save a few pomegranate seeds. When Zeus (king of the gods) finally ordered her release, Hades relented but demanded that Persephone return to the Underworld each year – one month for every pomegranate seed that she consumed.
And so, as an explanation of the seasons, when Persephone descends to the Underworld each year, the world is barren and Spring ceases. Fall and Winter arrive on earth while Persephone lives in the Underworld, with Hades. When she returns, so to does Spring return to the earth.
So there you have it. Instructional how-tos and mythological tie-ins. All part of what we do here at avoision.com.
Related:
Red Pomelo: Mysterious Citrus
Find out what to do with those arils!
Dustin (November 3, 2008 at 3:54 pm)Perhaps you knew: November is National Pomegranate Month. The Babylonians ate pomegranates before battle in the belief that the fruit would make them invincible. Did you and Liz feel invincible after you ate your pomegranate?
the apple lady (November 3, 2008 at 7:15 pm)Dustin – nice links! Thanks for those!Apple Lady – helpful and informative as always. I had no idea!
avoision (November 4, 2008 at 6:21 am)