Nature’s Super Food Pomegranate

Pomegranate

 The pomegranate is native to the regions from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India. It was cultivated and naturalized over the Mediterranean region since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout India and the drier parts of Southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies and tropical Africa. The tree was introduced into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. In United States, it is grown mainly in the drier parts of California and Arizona for its fruits.The pomegranate is a rounded shrub or small tree that can grow to 20 or 30 feet, but more typically to 12 to 16 feet in height. Dwarf varieties are also known. It is usually deciduous, but in certain areas the leaves will persist on the tree. The trunk is covered by a red-brown bark which later becomes gray. The branches are stiff, angular and often spiny. There is a strong tendency to sucker from the base. Pomegranates are also long-lived. There are specimens in Europe that are known to be over 200 years of age. The vigor of a pomegranate declines after about 15 years, however. The nearly round, 2-1/2 to 5 in. wide fruit is crowned at the base by the prominent calyx. The tough, leathery skin or rind is typically yellow overlaid with light or deep pink or rich red. The interior is separated by membranous walls and white, spongy, bitter tissue into compartments packed with sacs filled with sweetly acid, juicy, red, pink or whitish pulp or aril. In each sac there is one angular, soft or hard seed. High temperatures are essential during the fruiting period to get the best flavor. The pomegranate may begin to bear in one year after planting out, but two years is more common. Under suitable conditions the fruit should mature some five to seven months after bloom. The fruit can be eaten out of hand by deeply scoring several times vertically and then breaking it apart. The clusters of juice sacs are then lifted out and eaten. The sacs also make an attractive garnish when sprinkled on various dishes. Pomegranate fruits are most often consumed as juice. The sacs can be removed and put through a basket press or the juice can be extracted by reaming the halved fruits on an ordinary orange juice squeezer. Another approach starts with warming the fruit slightly and rolling it between the hands to soften the interior. A hole is then cut in the stem end which is placed on a glass to let the juice run out, squeezing the fruit from time to time to get all the juice. The juice can be used in a variety of ways: as a fresh juice, to make jellies, sorbets, cold or hot sauces, or as a flavoring to cakes, baked apples, etc. The juice can also be made into a wine. One pomegranate delivers 40 percent of an adult’s daily vitamin C requirement, and is a rich source of folic acid and antioxidants. Pomegranates are high in polyphenols. The most abundant polyphenols in pomegranate are hydrolysable tannins, particularly punicalagins, which research has shown to be the antioxidant responsible for the free-radical scavenging ability of pomegranate juice.* Many food and dietary supplement makers have found the advantages of using pomegranate extracts (which have no sugar, calories or additives), instead of the juice, as healthy ingredients in their products. Many pomegranate extracts are essentially ellagic acid, which is largely a by-product of the juice extraction process. Ellagic acid has been shown in published studies to absorb into the body when consumed as ellagitannins such as punicalagins.*