Pomegranate

Daram

Appears in

By Niloufer Ichaporia King

Published 2007

  • About

Like fish and coconut, the pomegranate (Punica granatum) plays a dual role in Parsi life for its symbolic value and for its use in food, and goes far back into pre-Islamic zoroastrian culture. To open a pomegranate tells you what it represents—abundance, fruitfulness, prosperity—and its ruby color is considered auspicious. How fortunate we are, then, that it tastes so good, sweet and tart. And now we are told that it is laden with antioxidants—the ideal food in form and function. Parsis eat the fruit fresh and drink the juice (for how to juice pomegranates). Pomegranates have a relatively short season in the fall, but specialty produce stores and better supermarkets sell them into the winter months and even into early spring. Although by then they have begun to look tired and battered, they can be sound and juicy inside.