Pomegranates: still awesome after all these years

by Ari Levaux

Pomegranates have long been one of the world's most revered fruits. The Bible is littered with references to the red orb, the image of which decorates the temple of Solomon and the robes of priests. An Old World staple, the fruit is gaining popularity in the New World as well. Canada, Mexico and emerging markets of South America are biting into California's export market. Once you get the hang of eating and cooking with them, it's easy to see why.

"Pomegranate" combines the Latin words for "apple" and "seeded." Botanically, the seeded apple isn't a close relative to the apple, but they have some things in common. Both are ripe in autumn – pomegranate season runs from late August until January – and both have long storage lives beyond their fresh seasons. Both fruits have been suggested as being the forbidden one that tempted Eve, though most biblical scholars lean toward the pomegranate. Both rosy-hued fruits have a reputation for keeping the doctor away, though pomegranates are more nutritious.

Another fruit historically linked to the pomegranate is the grape. They co-star in several biblical verse and can function similarly at the dining table. Pomegranate flavor has a wine-like quality. Chefs sprinkle the bright seeds atop their finished dishes, knowing that the mastication of a single ruby nugget with your mouthful of food is like a sip of wine as you chew. Pomegranate seeds create fireworks when eaten with rich foods, like stuffed pork loin or mushroom linguini.

Recent medical research has shown that, in addition to the fruit's well-known antioxidant and vitamin constituents, it also contains anti-cancer compounds that show promise in killing skin, liver, colon and prostate tumor cells. Not surprisingly, there is interest in using some of these compounds in chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, tainted Turkish pomegranate seeds, sold in a frozen antioxidant blend at Costco, were recently identified as the source of a hepatitis A outbreak that sickened 162 people. Eating pomegranates whole allows you to avoid this kind of danger, as the peel protects the fruit from any contamination the supply chain might impart.

Many of the pomegranate's healthful elements reside in the seeds, skin and aril, the yellow membrane that crisscrosses the fruit. So while juice might be a sweeter, user-friendly way to ingest pomegranate, you might only be getting some of the benefits. But if you tear the skin off and dive mouth-first into the fruit like you would an apple, you'll get a mix of pulp, seeds and aril. It's a bit more bitter and crunchy, but the sweet, penetrating flavor of the juice makes these bites pleasurable nonetheless, with more complexity than a sip of juice. If you're really into the bitter components, it's possible to purchase plain pomegranate arils, or even arils covered in milk chocolate.

An enriched juice out of fresh pomegranates can be made by peeling the fruit, leaving as much of the inner peel and aril as possible, and putting the naked pomegranate innards in the blender with a little water. Blend it to a slurry, and leave it overnight, refrigerated. Filter it the next morning. The result is a little more bitter than juice, but more complex, and is a delicious, refreshing and perhaps anti-carcinogenic way to start the day.

When selecting pomegranates, look for firm fruits with hard, rounded skins. Avoid super-sized fruits; like wine-grapes, pomegranates cultivated for size produce a more watery fruit, with less terroir. Those with dark red skin tend to contain seeds with darker red pulp.

If you find a good batch, consider acquiring some for long-term storage. Wrap them in paper towels and store in a paper bag at the bottom of the fridge where there isn't much activity. Like bottles of wine, the less they're disturbed, the better they're preserved.

Many recipes pair pomegranate with walnuts. Historically, they're grown in the same regions. And culinarily, the flavors complement each other beautifully. The penetrating acidic sweetness of pomegranates is a perfect contrast to the astringent, oily flavor of walnuts. Pomegranate seeds are used to accent sopa de nuez, a Spanish creamy walnut soup, and sprinkled atop chiles en nogada, a Mexican dish of stuffed chiles and walnut sauce. And they're ground with walnuts and red pepper to make muhammara, a Persian dip.

Perhaps the most famous pairing of pomegranates and walnuts is fesenjan, a meat stew made with ground walnuts and pomegranate molasses. Typically made with chicken or lamb, Fesenjan can be found throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, including Georgia, Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Pomegranate molasses can be found wherever Middle Eastern ingredients are sold. Like pomegranate juice, molasses doesn't contain all of the nutrient benefits of whole pomegranates, but it's a very tasty tool to have in the chest and helps make this dish the winner it is.

Fesenjan recipe

1 pound chicken or lamb, cut into chunks of roughly an inch, with chicken skin removed.

1 cup of walnuts

4 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

1 cup chicken stock

1 large onion, chopped

Olive oil for the pan

7 or so cardamom pods

Pinch each of nutmeg and cinnamon

Juice from one lemon

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Pomegranate seeds for garnish.

Brown meat in a pan with oil. In a separate pan, without oil, lightly toast the walnuts. When cool, grind into a paste.

Once the meat has browned, add onions and fry until translucent. Add walnut paste, pomegranate molasses, chicken stock, and enough water to submerge everything. Reduce heat to simmer and add the spices.

Simmer on low, adding water as necessary to keep the meat covered. After an hour, add the lemon juice, and season to taste with salt, pepper and if you wish, sugar.

As the meat approaches falling-apart tender, stop adding water and allow the sauce to thicken, stirring often to prevent burning. When the sauce is thick as melted ice cream, remove from heat and serve fesenjan with rice, garnished with fresh pomegranate seeds.