Day 103

Pomegranate: Today's post is another find from my pre-holiday Trader Joe's shopping trip. I know it's probably hard to believe, but I've never had the ubiquitous pomegranate in raw form. I've heard that there wasn't much to them, mostly seeds and a little bit of fruit, but I figured it was time to try one. TJ's had a plentiful supply of them for an inexpensive price, so I threw one in my basket to take home.

When I was preparing to eat it today at my parents' house, my dad advised me to roll it on the kitchen counter top to "break open" the juicy membranes surrounding the seeds, then puncture the skin so I could sip the juice out with a straw. He advised against eating the seeds, and said they were extremely bitter. I trusted his judgment, but I wanted to cut it open to see what I was dealing with. After slicing it in half, I noticed that it was almost entirely seeds, with some dark red pulp surrounding each one. I scooped out a couple and tried them, and my dad was right - they were bitter and not flavorful, but the pulp was sweet and tasty. I grabbed a bowl and decided to squeeze the rest of each half like any other fruit to get the juice out. What resulted was a couple ounces of the blood-red liquid, which I drank from the bowl. It was really good - almost like a sweeter, thinner, less pulpy orange juice.

I'd definitely eat pomegranate again, but I may stick to just buying the juice in its pure form to save on the waste.