Purely Pomegranates

Pink PomeGranny Juice

Are you a friend of the pomegranate? Oh what a lovely fruit this is! 

Native to southwestern Asia, the pomegranate is widely cultivated for its amazing edible fruit. It's actually one of the superfoods that I've recently become acquainted with.

Following my one day hospitalization in October for a cardiac malady, my husband brought me home a dozen pomegranates. He read on the Web that they were good for thinning the blood and stabilizing blood pressure, which at that time were new concerns. 

These pretty pink fruits were 79 cents each but since then we've bought them as low as 50 cents and stocked up. I found them in several grocery stores in our area and the price varied from $1 to close to $2 each, in season. What a wonderful fruit we've been missing these many years!

"Fruit of the Underworld"

Bottled pomegranate juice tastes wonderful, but only once before had I seen a fresh one broken apart and tasted the seeds. They are marvelous all on their own—by the spoonful, but I had never used them in a recipe before October when I started juicing them. 

If you're a little intimidated or unfamiliar with pomegranates, you'll like this amusing and informative video on how to break these beautiful fruit apart and eat them: 
 How to Eat a Pomegranate, and that's pretty much what I did. (I made much less mess.)

"A glass of pomegranate juice packs in more antioxidants 

than almost an entire day of healthy eating." 

I quartered each and placed them under water in a large pot or bowl, then I separated the seeds which naturally fell to the bottom, and most of the rest along with the outer shell floated to the top for easy straining and removal. This process is a little time consuming, but hey, it's worth it!

The seeds contain B vitamins, potassium, vitamin C, folic acid and iron. Their anti-inflammatory nature may help protect you from cancer and heart disease. 

Fresh Pomegranate nutritional make-up:

• Serving Size: 1/2 cup seeds
• Calories 80
• Fat 0g
• Cholesterol 0mg
• Sodium 5mg
• Total Carbohydrates 18g
• Fiber 5g
• Sugars 12g
• Protein 1g

Once I got those juicy tasty seeds ready-to-go, I used them in the following recipe:

Pink PomeGranny Juice

Seeds from 3 large pomegranates
3 large Granny Smith apples
3 large celery stalks with leaves
1/8 - 1/4 cup of lemon or lime juice

Put all ingredients through a juicer, then treat your tastebuds to this extraordinary drink.

 Super Delicious and Great for You!

The seeds taste good on their own, but I tried using the pomegranate seeds whole in a smoothie this past week and this is what I came up with: 

Pomegranate Smoothie

1/2 cup almond milk (or your choice milk)

Seeds from 1 large pomegranate

1 sliced banana (fresh or frozen)

3-4  large-leaf beet-top greens (or your choice of greens)

1 Tbs coconut oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Handful of ice

Stevia - sprinkle to taste 

Combine all of the above in a Vita-Mix or high-powered blender and mix until smooth. Pour and enjoy!

Go here for a pdf to print these recipes

I'd love to hear of your experience with using and eating pomegranates. 
Have any recipes to share?

Check out this interesting Pomegranate 101 at the Daily Dish plus some awesome recipes. This Pomegranate Salad (From Calculus to Cupcakes) sounds delish, and here are more raw recipes using pomegranates that you may want to peruse. 


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