Pomegranate is a tasty fruit, which is beneficial for our health. It is also associated with many cultural and religious customs.
Let’s find out more about the fruit!
- The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub.
- It belongs in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae.
- It grows between 5 and 10 m (16 and 33 ft) tall.
- Young pomegranate in Side, Turkey
- The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean region.
- It was introduced into Spanish America in the late 16th century.
- It was them introduced into California by Spanish settlers in 1769.
- The fruit is typically in season in the Northern Hemisphere from October to February, and in the Southern Hemisphere from March to May.
- As intact sarcotestas or juice, pomegranates are used in baking, cooking, juice blends, meal garnishes, smoothies, and alcoholic beverages, such as cocktails and wine.
- Pomegranates are widely cultivated throughout the Middle East and Caucasus region, north and tropical Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the drier parts of Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean Basin
- The name pomegranate derives from medieval Latin pōmum “apple” and grānātum “seeded”.
- Possibly stemming from the old French word for the fruit, pomme-grenade, the pomegranate was known in early English as “apple of Grenada”.
- This is a term which today survives only in heraldic blazons.
- This is a folk etymology, confusing the Latin granatus with the name of the Spanish city of Granada, which derives from Arabic.
- Garnet derives from Old French grenat by metathesis, from Medieval Latin granatum as used in a different meaning “of a dark red color”.
- This derivation may have originated from pomum granatum, describing the color of pomegranate pulp, or from granum, referring to “red dye, cochineal”.
- The French term for pomegranate, grenade, has given its name to the military grenade.
- A shrub or small tree growing 5 to 10 m (16 to 33 ft) high, the pomegranate has multiple spiny branches and is extremely long-lived, with some specimens in France surviving for 200 years.
- P. granatum leaves are opposite or subopposite, glossy, narrow oblong, entire, 3–7 cm (1+1⁄4–2+3⁄4 in) long and 2 cm (3⁄4 in) broad.
- The flowers are bright red and 3 cm (1+1⁄4 in) in diameter, with three to seven petals.
- Some fruitless varieties are grown for the flowers alone
- The word pomegranate means apple with many seeds.
- Pomegranates are native to the Middle East.
- Pomegranates belong to the berry family.
- Pomegranates are classified as a super fruit.
- Pomegranates can be stored up to 2 months in the refrigerator.
- Pomegranates grown in the United States are typically in season from September to December.
- Pomegranates do not contain cholesterol or saturated fats.
- Pomegranate trees grow in hot and dry climates.
- Pomegranate trees can live for over 200 years.
- One pomegranate can hold more than 1,000 seeds.
- The pomegranate arils are also very sweet, with one cup containing 24 grams of sugar.
- This means it has 144 calories.
- Pomegranate has impressive anti-inflammatory effects.
- One 12-week study in people with diabetes found that 1.1 cups (250 ml) of pomegranate juice per day lowered the inflammatory markers CRP and interleukin-6 by 32% and 30%, respectively
- Pomegranate may help fight prostate cancer.
- Pomegranates can be stored up to 2 months in the refrigerator.
- In the United States, Pomegranates grown are typically in season from September to December.
- Pomegranates do not contain cholesterol or saturated fats.
- Pomegranate trees grow in hot and dry climates.
- Pomegranate trees can live for over 200 years.
- There are over 760 varieties of pomegranate.
- Pomegranate remains dating back to 1000 BC have been found in Transcaucasia.
- In early English, the pomegranate was called the “apple of Grenada.”
- Pomegranates are mentioned many times in the Bible.
- In the Qur’an, pomegranates are named as one of the fruits that will grow in the gardens of paradise.
- In Greece, a traditional housewarming gift is a pomegranate placed under or near the home altar of the house in order to bring good luck, fertility, and abundance.
- Thomas Jefferson planted pomegranates at Monticello in 1771.
- Every October, the Pomegranate Festival is held in Goychay, Azerbaijan.
- The flowers of Pomegranate are bright red and 3 centimeters in diameter.
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