MetaChat - I bought a pomegranate today.

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05 December 2007

I bought a pomegranate today. →[More:]I've never had one before but have read all about how good they are for you.

I had to Google how to eat it, and, frankly, it's a pain in the arse, cutting off the top, scoring the outside, soaking it in water and peeling off the skin and pith to release the seeds.

I just had some, with raspberries and yoghurt. The seeds certainly taste as if they are healthy, lovely and fresh and juicy. But I think next time I might just buy the carton of ready-to-eat seeds I saw in Costco.

What new food have you tried recently?

post by: essexjan at: 15:48 | 24 comments

I always just cut pomegranates in half and pick the seeds out with my fingers or a spoon. I've never heard of soaking them in water. My husband cuts it open and eats the pith and seeds leaving just the outside part. Seems gross to me but he seems to like it!

The newest food I've tried was last weekend when I was in Glasgow, I had haggis (with neeps and tatties)! It wasn't really that bad. I actually think I would have liked it a lot better were I not thinking about what it was as I ate it. I felt the same way about black pudding when I first tried that last year.

posted by triggerfinger 05 December | 16:01

My great-grandmother had a pomegranate bush in her yard-along with fig trees, pecan trees, and a plum tree. When I see the pomegranates in the store this time of year it brings back fond memories.

When she died the land was sold and a store was built on it. I think now it holds a Salvation Army thrift store but it's been years since I've gone by the property-it's in a pretty bad part of town now.

And since you mention raspberries, I tried them for the first time recently. They don't grow around here and are pretty expensive in the store but they taste wonderful.

posted by bunnyfire 05 December | 16:03

I recently had goji berries for the first time (eh, okay, not something I want a lot of) and matsutake mushrooms (eh, okay, not something I want a lot of, and really expensive).

I've had a hard time eating pomegranate seeds since I was a kid. Picked a bunch off our tree one year; ate and ate and ate myself sick.

posted by mudpuppie 05 December | 16:06

Before thanksgiving, I realised that I had never eaten fennel! (anise). How I have overlooked it is baffling because I love everything that tastes aniseedy. So I roasted a bunch in my mixed roast vegetables, and it was delish.

posted by gaspode 05 December | 16:08

I've never actually eaten a pomegranate. I've bought them a couple times, but then got intimidated by all the advice on how to eat them and never did.

posted by jrossi4r 05 December | 16:09

Oh, and here's a tip for removing pomegranate seeds, gleaned from Iron Chef:

Cut the fruit in half across its width, same way you would a grapefruit. Hold the cut side down in the palm of your hand, cupping your palm around it. Hold hand over bowl. Wack the skin side with the back of a chef's knife or a rolling pin or a wine bottle or something like that. Seeds come out, fall into bowl.

posted by mudpuppie 05 December | 16:09

Also, some middle eastern friends of mine make pomegranate juice from the trees in their backyard. They just take the seeds, put them in a blender, and strain the resulting juice.

Okay, I think I'm done with pomegranate tips. Carry on.

posted by mudpuppie 05 December | 16:14

Yeah, that method seems like too much trouble. If the pomegranates are ripe (and I mean fresh and ripe, like when I would pick them off my neighbor's tree on my way to school the morning), the seeds are bursting with juice, and the skin easily pops open with a judicious use of fingernails. I would scrape handfuls of seeds off the pith and eat them a mouthful at a time. Or, on the weekends, I'd cut them in half,carefully scrape all the seeds into a bowl, and eat them one at a time.

I'm glad that pomegranates are starting to gain worldwide notoriety, but it's a shame that people have to suffer store-bought ones :( Also, I want a pomegranate.

I must be stodgy and stuck in a rut - I can't think of any new food I've tried recently.

posted by muddgirl 05 December | 16:15

Clearly I am an uncultured n00b, because all my life I've been perfectly happy just cutting the thing open and picking out the seeds.

I think the last new food I had recently was Port Salut cheese. Not bad, but very rich - definitely happy I bought bread to go with it.

posted by casarkos 05 December | 16:19

I keep reading it as pornegranate.
(It might as well grow on bushes these days.)

posted by Hellbient 05 December | 16:38

The last pomegranate I bought was in Tule, Mexico, in the shade of the Tule Tree.

I DO use pomegranate juice, cooking chicken gaza (scroll down).

posted by danf 05 December | 16:57

There's a bearing pomegranate tree right next door! My upstairs neighbor told me that she was scolded, though, when a couple of her visitors swiped a pomegranate or two, so I haven't touched any. But the guy who takes care of the garden (the father, who no longer lives there, having given the place up to his daughter and her husband), likes me, so I probably could. In fact, I'm pretty sure he told me that I could, but it wasn't entirely clear to me what he was saying.

posted by taz 05 December | 17:04

Pomegranate trees usually produce tons of fruit - way more than can be consumed by any one family in a season, even if that family has two healthy, growing, pomegranate-loving kids. I bet if you ask first, he'll be OK with it.

posted by muddgirl 05 December | 17:09

I haven't had one in years but they grew in our neighborhood growing up. I used to pretend the seeds were rubies.

posted by krix 05 December | 17:13

Went to my local Malaysian place and had the pork curry.

It was: meh.

The peanut sauce I made a couple of days ago was ten times better.

On to the next one . . .

posted by jason's_planet 05 December | 17:35

Oh my good lord, danf, that recipe looks amazing.

I loves me some pomegranates, but hate dealing with the seeds inside each...um...seed. I also love haggis, ever since a distant ex's mum brought some from Aberdeen as part of her xmas present. The. Best. Hangover. Food. If you can forget what's in it (and since she drove me to new excesses of drinking, that came in handy). bunnyfire--I wish I could send you raspberries! There are lots in my garden in the summer, and yes they are delicious.

I don't think I've tried anything new recently, but I did have some outstanding pho when I was in Vancouver.

posted by elizard 05 December | 20:13

Just got back from the store-they wanted three dollars per pomegranate. I did NOT buy one.

I just remembered...grandma always called them plumgrannies....

posted by bunnyfire 05 December | 20:36

I tried a semi sparkly rose. I normally don't do sparkling wine since it give me an instant headache, usually. This one didn't give me a headache, but it was too bitey for me.

posted by chewatadistance 05 December | 21:45

I was introduced to pomegranates when I was in junior high. Don't remember why or how. Do remember eating one and watching football with my dad. Now when the pomegranates first come out at the grocery store, I always think to myself, "Oh, it is football season."

I tear mine open from the flower end and pick out the seeds a few at a time. Sometimes I eat the seeds, sometimes I spit them out. Depends on how lazy I am at the time.

posted by youngergirl44 05 December | 21:50

Oh, I forgot to add what I had tried recently. Umm... a couple of months ago I had oyster shooters for the first time. Raw quail eggs and all. They were yummy. And it wasn't the first time ever, but I also had elk and buffalo for dinner last saturday night. Mmmmm... Buffaloes...

posted by youngergirl44 05 December | 22:09

Ooh, more new food! I picked up some Greek-style yogurt on the way home today and it is WIN. Never had it before, will definitely be having again. Yoplait and the likes were starting to be too runny for my taste - wonder if they've been switching up the formulae recently.

posted by casarkos 05 December | 23:19

"... What new food have you tried recently?"
post by: essexjan at: 15:48

I've been eating everything I can get my grubby hands on for more than half a century, ej. There's just not much that isn't seriously poisonous that I haven't put a tooth in, out of idle curiosity, a number of times.

I did fry some plantains again the other night, to accompany some grouper filets. I keep thinking, at intervals of a year or two, that I ought to like plantains. So, I buy a few, now and again, and try different recipes and presentations. But it seems I'm still not convincing my palate that plantains are all that tasty. Really, there's not much to like or dislike about plantains, I've concluded.

Maybe that's the deal: I think I ought to like 'em a lot more than they really deserve being liked. Come to think of it, that's all that keeps the price of mangoes up.

posted by paulsc 05 December | 23:30

When I was a kid in upstate NY, pomegranates were available for about 1 week sometime between thanksgiving and christmas. They must've cost a small fortune, because my mom would buy ONE, and with great pomp & circumstance, the family would spread newspapers on the floor and sit in a circle, trying to grab as much as possible and minimize sharing.

I am a pomegranate hoarder to this day.

posted by Triode 06 December | 00:09

I love pomegranates and think of them as a diet food - I take a little slice from the top and then dissect it with my fingers, eating the seeds as I go. It takes about an hour for a large pomegranate and I end up with a pile of shredded skin and membrane, and fingers that make it look like I smoke 60 a day. And I don't ingest many calories in relation to the hour's effort.

posted by altolinguistic 06 December | 06:16

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