The Jewel on the Plate

Having missed publishing what I think of as the "red" topics, ie Chinese New Year and St Valentine's Day, I have opted to write about pomegranates.

Native to Iran, their use and popularity spread across the continents, being taken on board ships by Spanish sailors anxious to avoid scurvy. Widely used in Middle Eastern dishes, it now pops up in everything from cocktails to savoury and sweet dishes.

Whilst the pomegranate itself is a tough skinned, reddish fruit, it is the seeds within that offer delight. These precious ruby jewels have a fragrant sweet/sharp juice. As a child, I would sit picking them out individually with a needle (top tip for occupying a bored child) but now prefer to cut the fruit in half and tap them out by bashing a wooden spoon against the outside. Not surprising when you consider each fruit holds 840 seeds! The white pith is bitter and should be disregarded.

Halloumi, the star in many of my family dishes, is delicious cooked, served with a minty dressing and scattered with pomegranate seeds, making a fab starter or snack. 

The season in the uk runs from December to March and comes into its own over the festive period when the seeds glisten like tiny baubles. They work particularly well in salads and grain-based dishes.

In Spain they are called "granada" and the word "grenade" is thought to come from the fruit, resembling in shape the early hand grenades and containing a lot of shrapnel (seeds). I would imagine even having an actual pomegranate thrown in your direction would be cause enough for concern.