Can we stop making tabletop displays out of pomegranates (no offense, Martha, we still love you and your meringue) and just eat them already?
āOnly about 18 percent of the country ever purchases a pomegranate,ā says Tom Tjerandsen, manager of the Pomegranate Council in Sonoma, California, which keeps tabs on such trends. āPeople tend to write down, 'milk, eggs, butter, sugar' when they go shopping. They donāt write āpomegranates.ā ā
When we do eat pomegranates, we're more likely to consume pomegranate-flavored foods and the uber-popular bottled juice, readily available year-round, than the whole fruit itself, which has a short season.
We can admit itāpomegranates do dress up a table. But there's so much more to themāor in them, rather. Time to put down the glue gun and get cracking.
Besides a hefty dose of antioxidants, potassium, and fiber, you mean?
Well, you can add the sweet-tart seeds, called arils, to sauces and syrups, sprinkle them over salads, desserts, or whatever bowl food youāre into at the moment, and plop them into cocktails.
You can also juice pomegranate halves as you would a lemon or lime or buzz the arils in a blender, and use that juice in a slew of sweet and savory ways.
Now is the time to buy pomegranates. Though some varieties are harvested in late summer, the Wonderful variety, which makes up about 80 percent of the U.S. crop, is in season from October through January.
You can bet that pretty much any pomegranate you buy at the grocery store was California-grown. The state produces 99 percent of the U.S. crop, says Tjerandsen.
In theory, they're all good; pomegranates are as ripe as theyāre going to get when theyāre harvested. But choosing the best ones at the store hinges on two factors: weight and color.
The fruit should feel heavy, which means itās full of juice. Pomegranates are pretty hardy and donāt bruise easily, so if it feels squishy in spots, thatās not a good sign.
Also, look for bright-red, leathery skin. āIf itās started to turn maroon or a darker shade of red and it starts to look wrinkled,ā says Tjerandsen, "it means itās been in the distribution pipeline longer.ā (Read: itās old. Best to move on.)
For several weeks, easily, in the fruit drawer of your refrigerator.
On your countertop or, fine, artfully arranged in a bowl, they'll keep for about 10 days before they start to dry out, says Tjerandsen.
If you extract the seeds for easy access, put those in an airtight container in the fridge and use them within a week.
Frozen in storage bags, the arils will keep for a year. However, once thawed, they dissolve into a āmushy mess,ā says Tjerandsen, so it's best to add them, still frozen, to whatever it is youāre making.
