Aren't they Wonderful

Pomegranate: literally the apple of many seeds; mythically the food that tempted Persephone – her eating of 6 seeds in Hades is the cause of winter; either mythically or literally (depending on your belief system) the fruit that some, but not all, believe was the true fruit of Adam’s temptation and man’s expulsion from Eden.

It is a curious fruit - globe-shaped, with a prominent stem, comically closer an Acme Bomb, that Wily E. Coyote somehow got delivered to the middle of the Southwest desert, than a tree fruit. Fittingly, the French name for the fruit is grenade but this has little to do with shape or explosive probability of the fruit – granum (seeds) is a short hop linguistically to grenade, or Español’s granada. For Sudeten Germans, it is granatapfel, it isn't quite as intimidating as other German words but still a far cry from the simple Roma, which is what the Brazilian’s call the fruit. Keeping with the geographical theme – Pomegranate’s Latin name, Punica, was the Roman name for Carthage, where the best fruits were said to originate from.

And maybe to the ancient Romans, the fruit did seem to be born in Carthage, but Persia – modern day Iran – seems to be a better bet for the pomegranate’s ancestral homeland. The tree, or actually a shrub - sometimes deciduous or in different climes, evergreen, gets around. The fruit and the tree have been know in North Africa since the dawning of civilization - Egyptians grew them in the time of the Pharaoh, Moses, who incidentally told Pharaoh to let his people go, then had to reassure his followers in the desert the fruit would be available in the promised land. Not to be forgotten, the Phoenicians painted pomegranates on their pottery and the fruit is referenced in the Babylonian Talmud. Indians – subcontinent have used the seeds for 1000s of years. The plant arrived in the Bahamas in 1621 and is grown in suitable climates throughout the Americas, including the States, arriving in what would become California in the 1780s and it has stayed ever since - a small crop, mostly the variety Wonderful (which accounts for 90% of the commercial juice production) is grown in the Valley.

In the States, pomegranates have never really been all that – the fruit is possibly better known as the flavoring for grenadine – the juice is and mixed with sugar syrup in order to flavor Shirley Temples and other, more potent cocktails. Around the world, both the seeds and juice are used for drinking and cooking. The bark and leaves of the tree/shrub, along with the fruit’s red peel - all very high in tannins, have been used to cure leather for centuries. The leaves have been used to make ink, the seeds as a preservative, the bark of the tree is ground and used as an organic pesticide.

The new millennium has brought about a new demand for the juice, which is touted more for its antioxidant Kung-Fu than its flavor. Galen would be proud to know it is being used as a medicine at this day in age. Considering I like western medicine, I rather have my pomegranate juice poured over club soda or added with fresh squeezed tangerine juice, bourbon and ice – shaken and served up in a martini glass. It may not boost my immune system, prevent cancer or slow down the aging process but it does take the edge off of a hard day.