FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
POMEGRANATE, PUNICA GRANATUM
Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.
Punica granatum. Juice contained in a pulpy sac surrounding each of a mass of seeds-outer skin contains tannin and therefore bitter. Sweet juice used to prepare grenadine syrup for alcoholic and fruit drinks. Analysis per 100 g: water 80g, protein 1 g, carbohydrate 18g, kcal 80 (0.32MJ), Fe 0.7 mg, vitamin A nil, vitamin B1 0.02 mg, vitamin B2 0.03 mg, nicotinic acid 0.2 mg, vitamin C 8 mg.
Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.
The fruit of an ancient tree native to the Middle East. The globe-shaped fruit has a hard red skin which encloses many tiny pink-red sections, each with small seed. Pomegranates have a unique, sweet flavor and delightfully crisp texture. The juice is made into a refreshing drink or concentrated into an essence or syrup which is sold as grenadine. In India, the seeds are scattered over desserts and are dried and ground for use as a seasoning when a tart flavor is required. They are also used as a meat tenderizer and in the making of chutneys.
Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.
is the orange-sized fruit of a tree native to North Africa and western Asia. The fruit has a tough reddish outer skin and sweet red, crisp, gelatinous flesh containing many seeds.
- ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French pome grenate, from pome 'apple' + grenate ' pomegranate' (from Latin (malum) granatum '(apple) having many seeds'.
Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. III
is the tree bearing this fruit (Punica granatum) is a native of Northern Africa and Western Asia. The name signifies an apple with many grains, in consequence of the interior of the fruit being made up of a quantity of grains or seeds, packed closely and embedded in a very delicious red pulb. The rind is tough and leathery, of a golden brown color, tinged with red; and as it contains a very large proportion of tannin, is used for curing skins, especially those known as Morocco leather.
UNITED FRESH FRUIT & VEGETABLE ASSOCIATION, 727 N. Washington, Alexandria, VA 22314
SEPTEMBER 1970 original author R.A. SEELIG scanned and edited by ZoeAnn Holmes
The pomegranate is PUNICA GRANATUM of the Punicaceae family. It is a large deciduous spiny shrub or small tree of tropical and subtropical areas, with lance-shaped or oblong shiny, toothless, opposite leaves up to three inches long. The fruit has a hard brownish-yellow to red rind, inclosing reddish juicy pulp with many seeds, although forms with small seeds or no seeds are known. Botanically, the fruit is a large berry, from two to five inches in diameter. It is nearly round with a heavy, persistent tubular calyx. The edible portion is the pulp around each seed and one reason the pomegranate is not more popular is because of the difficulty of eating it either out of hand or in extracting the juice.
Fruit should have unbroken rind with no sign of decay; be heavy for its size; and have a fresh, not dried out appearance.
