Veronica's Kitchen Day 17: Pomegranate Power

Welcome, reader! We are more than half way to December 25, Christmas, and I'm enjoying sharing a piece of Veronica's joyful life with you each day. Hope you  are liking what you read. And thanks for tuning in.

The Powerful Pomegranate

Native to Armenia and a fertility symbol of our mother country, the pomegranate is known as a "super food" with wonderful antioxidant properties as well as an ingredient in many dishes, from the Persian Khoresh Fesenjoon, to the Lebanese Muhammarah.  Even more curious are the seeds of the pomegranate fruit, so delicate and sweet, yet hearty and tough to extract. While this food gained popularity here in the states in recent years, our ancestors were growing it back home for centuries. When Grandma Veronica and Grandpa Artin moved to the states some 30 years ago, they made sure to plant a pomegranate tree in their backyard, which to this day still bears viable, vibrant fruit.

Pomegranates from grandma's tree

So much energy and nutrients reside inside this super food

Its many seeds a metaphor for fertility, the pomegranate is a symbol of our native Armenia's fertile land.
You can read more about this fruit at the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate
http://peopleofar.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/pommegranade-symbol-of-armenia/

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned as I dig up and translate more of grandma's recipes from Armenian to English,  featuring ingredients like the glorious pomegranate!