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SFist in the Kitchen: Pomegranates
Though reader Brett Emerson wrote a nice piece on his blog about the way pomegranates symbolize autumn, we have to make a slight correction. Pomegranates are the cause of the rain and snow we're about to see.
Back in the day, Hades abducted Persephone while she frolicked in the fields. Boo on that, we say. Her mom, Ceres, goddess of the harvest, eventually found her and brought her back to the surface, but the plants up here withered while she searched. Unfortunately, Persephone got hungry while down under, and ate six pomegranate seeds. The garnet-colored teardrops came with a price: for each seed, Persephone had to spend one month in the underworld as Hades's bride. When she's underground, hanging with the dead, her mom gets all weepy and turns the earth cold again. A tip to our readers: Be wary when the Lord of the Underworld offers you pomegranates. We're full of practical advice here at SFist.
We understand Persephone's temptation. We look forward to the zingy, vibrant flavor of pomegranate seeds, though we'll warn you that we've found the occasional watery sample at local markets. You want a mouth-puckering acidity that just begs to be tossed into a salad or atop a roasted quail. Or follow Patience Gray's advice for the seeds in Honey From a Weed: "Eaten out of doors while walking; very refreshing, one sucks the delicious seeds and spits the kernel on the wayside." We imagine we'll put up some pomegranate vinegar soon, since it's so easy. Just steep 1 cup of seeds in 2 cups of good white wine vinegar for 8-10 days, and strain when the liquid tastes pomegranate-y enough.
Photos by Melissa Schneider
As much as we love the gem-like seeds, we more often smush them into juice. We've made grenadine in the past (see the WebTender recipe), but these days we like to reduce the liquid to a viscous mix of sweet and tart. Try it, as we did, with pancetta-wrapped duck breasts (no meat is so fatty that it can't use a little bit more). We paired our duck with a Loire red and pears poached in a rosemary-infused vinegar-sugar blend. Pomegranate molasses serves as a good substitute for this reduction, so keep an eye out for it at stores that cater to Middle Eastern clientele.
Pomegranate pairs well with blood oranges, cream cheese, and yogurt, and the fruit appears often in Mediterranean food: Just look at how often friend of SFist Fatemeh uses pomegranate in her recipes. We'd avoid pairing it with mint, though. Once Persephone got used to the Queen of the Underworld gig, she wasn't keen on her husband's straying eyes. When the nymph Mintho came a-calling and tempted Hades, Persephone transformed her into the fragrant herb we know today.
The Pomegranate Council of California (whose website intro might induce seizures) offers their technique for de-seeding a pomegranate, but Brett followed up his pomegranate exaltation with a chef's advice for easily removing the seeds. When we juice the seeds for cooking, we use a food mill, but cooks more often advise puréeing them in a food processor and straining out the seeds. If you want to drink the juice, we can't imagine you'll find a better technique than Fatemeh's: "roll that bad boy around on a counter until it's soft, punch a hole in the side, put your hands on either side, and suck the juice out as you squeeze." That's our memory of her comment, anyway. No matter what we do with them, however, we always seem to end up with little red dots on the floor, the cupboards, and our clothes. Our final advice for pomegranates? Wear an apron and keep paper towels handy.