On pomegranates

Plus my recipe for pomegranate seeds in honey

Pomegranates on a trip to Huntington Library with my aunt, 2013

The pomegranate is a food that exists between worlds. This is true in mythology (like story of Persephone) but it also evokes that in-betweenness in our bodies. Or at least in mine. The pomegranate is sensual, yet cerebral, connecting us to the earth in a visceral, blood-colored, and delicious way, while connecting us to the realms of our minds and imaginations. A pomegranate takes presence and intention to prepare and to eat.

The pomegranate is also one of the contenders for the fruit in the Garden of Eden. It was an innocent-looking piece of fruit that gave us the power of knowledge and discernment. While modern Biblical interpretations pretty consistently point to an apple, but other, older interpretations suggest a fig. And very occasionally, someone suggests a pomegranate.
But when I look at a pomegranate, I can see how that fruit would be irresistible: A pomegranate, heavy with juice and hanging from a branch, waiting to be plucked, is a very hard invitation to ignore.

Both the apple (or fig, or even maybe just maybe the pomegranate) of Eden and the pomegranate of Persephone are warnings of the dangers behind lusting after something, but also the inevitability of change that is being forever created through our desires. Their beauty and sweetness beckon us, sparking our desire, but we know that by taking a bite the world will be different than it was before.

In Greek mythology, the pomegranate symbolized fertility and death, a natural choice for the changes in season brought about by Perseophone’s journeys between worlds.

I’ve pulled together this reading list, of works I’m revisiting or visiting for the first time, as I continue to explore the magic of pomegranate (plus, a bonus book about figs).

What are your favorite pomegranate stories, either from mythology or your own life?

To reads and a few have-reads

If you want to explore the magic of pomegranate through eating pomegranates, pomegranate seeds make a frequent appearance in many cuisines including Persian. One book I’m currently going through is Pomegranates and Artichokes: A Food Journey from Iran to Italy.

If you want to learn about the Persephone myth in audio form, check out this recording. Frustratingly, many of the books I’ve picked up over the years about Persephone and Demeter have ended up not fitting the bill for me (no shade on romance novels, which have such a fascinating history and importance of their own, but it’s just not my personal favorite genre, and there seem to be a ton of Persephone romances out there).
I have however been recommended Persephone Unveiled, which (I’m told) is less historical authority on the myth in society and more a retelling of the myth itself. If you’ve read it and have thoughts, let me know!

There are also children’s books on Persephone, including this one for 4-8 year olds that is described as “haunting” (I haven’t read it, but that has me hooked, though 4-8 year old me might not have been).

And of course there’s pomegranate in food as well as myth. For more on Classical foods from Greece and Rome, The Classical Cookbook is a wonderful guide to exploring flavors (see also, Grainger’s latest book on garum).

On my fruit-related to-read list: The Pomegranates and Other Modern Italian Fairy Tales, this book on the Jewish American crafting movement (which is, admittedly, only very tangentially about pomegranates),

Bonus fig book: Gods, Wasps, and Stranglers (good for fruit lovers in general, as well as for folks curious about the fig and the Garden of Eden myth).

Recipe: Pomegranate Seeds in Honey (canned and refrigerator versions)

This is a recipe from my forthcoming Essential Preserving Handbook, and is a nice partner to the pomegranate recipe I shared with you two weeks ago.