POMEGRANATE SEASON

by Steven Steinbock

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This isn’t the first time I’ve written about pomegranates. I did it here way back in December, 2008. It bears mention again. In fact, it bears more than mere mention.

I never quite know when to expect pomegranates in the stores. Whenever I’ve asked the produce people at supermarkets, they’re never sure either. The California pomegranate season is October to January. In the Southern Hemisphere, it runs March, April, and May.

The pomegranate is an odd fruit. I run into a lot of people who admit that they’ve never tasted one. Quite a few people wouldn’t know how to eat one if it bit them on the nose. Pomegranate juice has been making an appearance in supermarkets. It’s given a lot of people a taste of pomegranate. But most people are familiar with pomegranate in a way they didn’t realize. Grenadine syrup traditionally has pomegranate as its base. I say traditionally because the most common brand of grenadine syrup, Rose’s, is made entirely from high fructose corn syrup. That’s a shame. Especially considering how the word grenadine comes from the French word for pomegranate.

Ever wonder if there’s a connection between grenadine and grenadiers? Keep reading.

A pomegranate is an apple grenade. In a sense, that’s literally true. The English word pomegranate comes from the Latin words pomum (apple) and granatum (grainy or seedy). There’s the seed of a story in there somewhere.

This really happened: when I was in the seventh grade and attending Hebrew school, the rabbi’s son, who was in my class, brought a pomegranate one day. The rabbi’s son was something of a “bad boy.” You know the kind. He’s the one that all the girls lusted after and all the parents were wary of. Anyhow, when the teacher wasn’t looking, the rabbi’s son hurled the pomegranate at the wall. It burst open, spreading its juice in deep rosy colored floral pattern that was still on that wall when I graduated. It’s probably still there now.

A lot of you may think that the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, the one that Adam and Eve tasted before their own graduation from Eden, was an apple. Not a chance. It was a pomegranate. I know. I was there. (You were, too. Don’t deny it. I saw you there).

In Jewish folklore, a pomegranate has 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 commandments (or mitzvot) found in the Torah. I’ve never counted all the commandments. I’d never counted pomegranate seeds, either. But a year ago I told that story to a group of kids, and they took it as a challenge to count all the seeds in the pomegranate I brought. They did, but I’m not certain how many seeds went into the kids’ mouths before they were counted.

Ideas are like seeds the seeds of a pomegranate. You can’t eat the fruit right off the produce counter. You have to cut it open, separate the arils (the juice-filled seed casings) from the shell and from the inner membranes. Sometimes, when you’re not sure what to do, it might be helpful to throw the ideas against the wall (preferably on a big sheet of paper) and see where the juice falls.

When I have more ideas than I have time to cultivate, I jot down notes to myself on index cards. God bless index cards.

Pomegranates, like story ideas, have a long shelf-life. Weeks, sometimes months after you bring them home, they are still fresh. But here’s an interesting trick if you want to save your pomegranate seeds for an off season: Set the washed seeds out on a paper towel spread out on a big plate or cookie sheet. Roll everything around to make sure all the seeds (arils, actually) are relatively dry. Replace the paper towel if necessary. Stick it in the freezer for an hour. Carefully pour the frozen arils into a plastic bag and keep it in the freezer. They’re delicious frozen.

1. Proserpine, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1874) [↩]