We picked our first two pomegranates this evening. The softball-sized fruit looked so red and shiny, we just couldn’t resist finding out whether they were really ripe – or just looked that way.
Debbie halved one of them and the fleshy seeds certainly looked ripe.
As it turns out, we might have been a week or so premature, but not being a pomegranate expert, I could be wrong. The fruit wasn’t as sweet as I expected, but it was quite juicy and not at all unpleasant.
Pomegranates are a lot of work to eat. I suppose some people eat the seeds, but I prefer to just mush a mouthful around to get the juice and then spit out the remnants. Debbie mashed the rest of the fruit through a strainer (we don’t have a juicer) and pronounced the juice quite good.
Our tree has at least a dozen more of the fruit in various stages of ripeness. It will be interesting to see how many of them ripen fully before the weather gets too cold.
Eric
How about a picture of the tree.
Paul
Didn’t even think about that. I’ll try to post one when I get time (no guarantees), but it’s not a very impressive specimen. Just an overachiever when it comes to making fruit.
(singing)
Oh, they’ve got a lovely bunch o’ … pomegranates? …
I was wondering when it would be that I actually knew someone who had eaten a pomegranate. I admire your courage.
How do you eat a pomegranate? Do you eat the fleshy part,too? I bought one but then didn’t know what to do with it after I cut it. It was rather sour and I ended up throwing it away. Someone thought that was ‘wasteful’ but he didn’t want it either.
Alice, our preference is to use a spoon or a knife to remove the seeds from the fleshy part, which we consider inedible. If the fruit is properly ripened, the seeds separate easily.
I don’t think pomegranates are ever as sweet as we think they ought to be, but if they’re too sour, they might not be ripe.
You might think of the seeds as “crunchy juice.” It’s easy to crush them between your teeth for the juice without swallowing the actual seed.
Whether it’s worth the effort is a highly subjective judgment!
I like pomegranates, and I love the Pom juice. Those are beautiful specimens!
The images of your lovely pair of pomegranates look so waxy and shiny in appearance that it makes you think that they are artificial! Seeds remind me a bit like red corn. Nice coloring.
Eric,
So you did have to stake the tree once the fruit started getting so large? I had wondered how the spindly tree I have could ever hold up fruit.
THANKS for sharing the pics!
Lane, I staked the tree in late winter before any fruit appeared because the north winds were whipping it around unmercifully (it’s protected from the south). I don’t usually like to stake trees, but this one seemed more top-heavy than usual. But you’re right; once it put on some much fruit, the staking seemed like an even better idea.