Thursday, November 8, 2007

Pomegranate / Grenade

Grenade


The Pomegranate is a fruit cultivated in some parts of Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran and Japan) in California, Arizona and Latin America, and over the whole Mediterranean region.
It is the symbol of the city of Granada in Andalusia, Spain and the official logo of many cities in Turkey.

Fresh pomegranate season is from September to November in North America.

How to choose it:
The pomegranate should have a pronounced red color and a shiny skin, with no blemishes or bruises. It should also be heavy for its size to guarantee a juicy fruit.

How to peal it: (a very easy way)
After halving it with a knife, remove the white casings and invert the pomegranate in a way that the outer skin will be facing you and the inner seeds will be facing a bowl. Take a tablespoon and tap the pomegranate with the back of the spoon. The seeds will pop out of the pomegranate into the bowl.

How to eat it:
The seeds can be eaten raw or in a fruit salad and goes very well with lamb’s lettuce (mâche). It can be used in making syrup, juice, jelly, liqueur, sauces or jams. In India and Pakistan, they are widely popular in chutneys, relishes and curries. In Turkey, pomegranate sauce is used in salad dressings and to marinate meat while pomegranate syrup (thank you Hande!) is used in Muhamara (Turkish red pepper, cumin and walnut spread) and Güllaç (a famous Turkish dessert).

This recipe is my favorite way, if not the only way, I eat pomegranate since I was a kid.
It is basically pomegranate seeds scented with orange blossom water, which results in a refreshing and very aromatic fruit salad. Orange blossom water, if you are not familiar with, is distilled water that contains the essential oils of orange blossom. It is very sweet-scented and a little goes a long way.

A Simple, easy and very satisfying dessert. That's how I like to start my weekend.

Happy weekend everyone.

Grenade parfumee a l'orange


Orange Scented Pomegranate

Recipe: Serves 4 people
- 2 pomegranates
- 2 small tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp orange blossom water

Remove the seeds from the pomegranate and place them in a bowl. Add sugar and orange blossom water and mix using a spoon. Cover with a plastic wrap and chill for at least ½ hour before serving.


Orange scented Pomegranate


Grenade parfumée à l’orange

In francais please: Pour 4 personnes
- 2 grenades
- 2 petites c.s de sucre en poudre
- 2 c.s d’eau de fleur d’oranger

Récupérer les graines de grenade et les mettre dans un bol. Ajouter le sucre et l'eau de fleur d’oranger et mélanger à l’aide d’une cuillère. Couvrir de fil plastic et mettre au frais au moins ½ heure avant de déguster.


20 comments:

Indonesia Eats said...

Love the pictures...

Nabeela said...

love that first picture! what camera do you use?(forgot to ask this in the e-mail!)

Patricia Scarpin said...

Rose,
Here in Brazil there's a tradition of eating 7 seeds of pomegranate in New Year's Eve for good luck! After eating them, keep the seeds, wrap them in a napkin and keep them in your wallet on the following year. :)

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

The first time I ever encountered pomegranate was when I was 13, spending a summer on a kibbutz in Israel. They had pomegranate trees and you could just reach up, pluck off a fruit, plunge your thumb into it to get at the seeds, and suck them out. That was more than 40 years ago, and I can still remember the taste of those fresh pomegranates.

Anonymous said...

Rose, it is so good to see pomegranates featured on food blogs, and then with such lovely pictures! But I have to correct something: Muhammara is never made with fresh pomegrantes, it is only the pomegranate syrup we use. And there is no garlic in it either. Though recipes vary from household to household, basically it is red pepper (dried or fresh)-walnut-zwieback-cumin and pom. syrup!

Warda said...

- Andaliman, thank you very much.

- Nabeela, thank you my dear. I have a point and shot like yours, but mine is a Cannon Powershot SD600.

- Patricia, what a wonderful tradition my dear. And does it bring you luck?

- Lydia, Ah sweet memories! Pomegranate from the Mediterranean region are much sweeter than the ones I find here. My grandmother used to have two pomegranate trees in her garden and it was a real treat for us to just go to the backtard and enjoy them straight from the tree.

- Hande, thank you very much for correcting me and for all these helpful informations. It's actually what I had found on the internet about Muhammara. I guess next time I would like to talk about Turkish dishes, I should ask you first. Have a nice weekend.

Anonymous said...

quelle coincidence ;j'etais sur le point d'en preparer .tes photos sont lumineuses et toutes en couleur ;plus vraies que nature !bravo.chez ma maman aussi il y avait 2 grenadiers...mais une certaine garaa les a coupes!! depuis la maison a perdu son ame et sa joie de vivre .car comme tu dois peut etre le savoir ;la grenade est par excellence le fruit de la prosperite .vu la multitude de grains;le foyer qui reçoit des grenades et qui en garde quelques unes jusqu'à la saison prochaine ;degage une certaine serenite et du bien etre.c' est du vecu.sa pelure a des effets tres benefiques ;entre autre pour les problemes intestinaux .voila ma chere rose ;et have a good weekend !!

winedeb said...

In the produce section of our store yesterday, I noticed they had just finished putting together the pomegranate stand. It was so cool with loads of the fruit sitting there waiting to be purchased! Fall is surely upon us! Beautiful photos Rose:)

Gretchen Noelle said...

You always make everything look so beautiful! I am so impressed by your photos!

Gloria Baker said...

How ever your pictures are beautiful, really beauty. My hubby like so the Granadas (pommergrates)I think reading that you mention about Spain, for this we called them Granadas. Thanks. Gloria

Claude-Olivier Marti said...

Mieux vaut ne pas porter d'habits blancs ou etre trop près d'un mur blanc ;-) C'est un fruit qui est sympa comme déco en tout cas! biz

Anonymous said...

Génial fruit que j'ai expérimenté en sucré, en sucré-salé et aussi dans une boisson à l'orange et au kombucha , et c'est vrai que c'est superbe en déco, à réutiliser !

LILIBOX said...

c'est exactement comme cela que l'on prépare les grenades chez moi !

FoodieFroggy said...

Chez moi aussi, comme c'est étrange !! ;-))

Warda said...

- Mima, cette garaa alors!!! On ne sait plus quoi faire avec elle.

- Deb, thank you my dear. your market must be a wondeful sight.

- Gretchen, thank you very much. You are too sweet.

- Gloria, thank you my dear for the spanish word. I believe this is why we call the city of Granada, Granada.

- Claude, tu as bien raison. Un moyen pas cher de redocorer.

- Tiuscha, tes idees m'ont l'air tres sympa. Surtout le sucré-salé.

- Lili, et bein on ne vient pas du meme continent pour rien ma chere.

- Foodiefroggy, alors la! C'est vraiment drole.

Mingoumango (La Mangue) said...

Je t'ai déjà dit que tes photos étaient magnifiques ?

Warda said...

- La mague, je t'ai deja dit que tu etais adorable?

browniegirl said...

Oh what glorious photography of those divine bright red jewels!! Thank you Rose! It just takes me straight back to my childhood, we too had a tree in our garden and could just pick the fruit and nibble on those delightful juicy seeds. Sweeter than any I have tasted since....I can only imagine how delightful the taste must be with orange flower water.

Warda said...

- Collywolly, Thank you very much. I know exactely what you mean by not finding pomegranates sweeter than those of our childhood. It something that will stay with us forever.

KPB said...

I adore pomegranates and am currently delighting in them scattered over fresh mango and/or papaya and on top of my bircher muesli.