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Above: Autumn's first frost's spilt the tough
skins of the pomegranates
They are believed to have originated
in Iran where they still grow wild. The fruit grows on a
hardy, long living small tree, that depending on your
winter climate, stays green or will lose its leaves. In
Bungendore, they turn bright yellow and fall quickly when
the nights drop below 10C degrees. Alan Davidson's Oxford
Companion to Food says the fruit was well known in
ancient Egypt and that when Moses was leading the Israelites
to the Promised Land, he had to reassure them that they'd
find there the refreshing fruit they'd left behind.
... a land of brooks of water, of fountains
and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
A land of wheat, and barley and vines, and fig trees, and
pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey;
Deuteronomy 8,7-8.
 Homer
mentions it so the ancient Greeks knew of the fruit, and the
Romans seem to have discovered it via Carthage in North
Africa. Carthage was called Punis in Roman times so the
fruit became mala punica the 'apple Carthaginian'.
The species name granatum, (and also the Spanish
Granada) and the name pomegranate, refer to its
many 'grains' or seeds. If you've ever eaten a handful of
the seeds you'll appreciate the dilemma of whether, after
eating the soft scented pulp, you should swallow the seeds
or spit them out. Davidson points out that this is a problem
going back to classical legend.
"Persephone, daughter of Demeter the
goddess of fruit and fertility, was carried off to the
underworld by its god Hades (Pluto). Demeter, in her efforts
to force her daughter's release, prevented earthly plants
from bearing fruit (thus creating winter, a formerly unknown
phenomenon).
Persephone for her part, vowed not to
eat while in Pluto's kingdom, but eventually succumbed and
ate a pomegranate. She spat out all the seeds but for six,
which she swallowed. When Pluto finally gave in to Demeter,
he was allowed to keep Persephone for six months of every
year because of those seeds, and this is supposed to be the
alternation between winter and summer."
Spanish sailors took the fruit on voyages because its tough
skin helped it travel well and it became established in
southern USA and in California in the 18th Century. It
travelled to Asia and is mentioned in India and China around
the first century AD. Although its seeds are spread by
birds it doesn't grow true by seed, and cuttings are the
most reliable way to propagate it.
If you get a good large pomegranate it makes collecting the
seeds easier and worthwhile (slit the skin, and scoop the
fleshy seeds out with a spoon leaving the white membrane
between, which is bitter). If you just want the juice, you
can microwave them briefly, roll the fruit hard to crush it
and the juice will flow out easily. Commercial concentrated
pomegranate juice is called grenadine.
They're a sensuous and extravagant fruit, the source
of lots of other legends but if you are eating the fruit
uncooked, remember Persephone and spit.
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