Sunday, November 21, 2010

The darker (and lighter) side of . . . Pomegranates.

So, I know that the color of fruit varies from variety to variety for a number of reasons; due to different growing climates or as a result of different minerals in the soil, what have you.  I've been noticing (and enjoying) the pomegranates around here for the last month or so, and have been pleasantly surprised to find that the lighter colored 'nates have a robust and sweet flavor.  Mind you, the darker 'nates have more flavor, but tend to have a bit of a tart side that the lighter ones don't.  When I say lighter and darker, I usually mean that the light ones are a dark pink, while the dark ones are a deep ruby color.  Here's an example of the deep ruby color:



Anywho... I went to the market today to pick up a few items for the week ahead and I saw some good looking pomegranates, so I picked one up.  It looked and felt good.  Upon my return home and after ripping into it to prep it for eating, I was absolutely astonished!

Now, I love pomegranates.  Many of you know that.  They are a great source of antioxidants, etc. etc. etc.  Bottom line, they're delicious, though somewhat difficult pieces of fruit to eat.  In addition to being somewhat cantankerous to enjoy from an ease-of-use standpoint, they are notorious for their propensity to leave stains on anything that their juice contacts.  (If you're currently situated in 440A Lower Grass Valley Road, a quick look at the "kitchen" floor will attest to this.)  This can be exasperated by the fact that preparing pomegranates for human consumption usually requires at least a little bit of tugging or ripping, which often leads to a rupturing of the fruit's delicious flavor-capsules.  In short, pomegranates can stain easily...







unless...

















Unless there is no pigment in the pomegranate!  Upon pulling this 'nate apart, I was amazed to find that it had almost no color whatsoever.  I was so excited by this, that I went back to the market to get a "regular" pomegranate for comparison.

So that you know, the white pomegranate was pink on the outside, and it has good flavor.  Much sweeter than the (very) tart red one in this picture, but not as flavorful.

Signing off,
~The Fruit Lover

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