As a kid I remember my grandmother running after me with a bowl full of pomegranates coaxing and cajoling me into eating them. “They are delicious, please try them” she said as she tried every trick in her arsenal to get me to eat it. But I was defiant. I just did not want to eat them, lord know why.
Over this stuck with me as I swiftly avoided pomegranates on the stands in the supermarkets and gave the dishes with pomegranates a pass at restaurants. It wasn’t until I visited Partha’s farm in Ananthpur to shoot a Farmizen on Tthe Road episode that I actually opened up to the idea of pomegranates.
As we walked through the rows of pomegranate trees on his farm with Partha explaining the farming process, he suddenly stopped, plucked a a pomegranate off the tree, bit it open with his mouth with a satisfying crack sound and handed me a bunch of pods and said- try these! This was maybe the first time I had tasted pomegranates in several decades.
As I bit into those bright maroon pods, they unleashed a sweet and tangy flavour explosion in my mouth. This was followed by the crunch of the seeds that balanced out the sweet tang flavour with an earthy flavour that had a way of carrying the lovely flavour to the back of my mouth. Needless to say in heaven! What had I been missing all these years? This was roller coaster of flavours and memories that came gushing back as I devoured that fruit. It was so good!
When I was at the farm, Partha was in the middle of harvesting a batch of the lovely, ripe, red fruits in preparation to send it to Farmizen. The moment the fruits were listed later that week, I placed an order on the Farmizen app to stock up. Over the next few weeks I started integrating pomegranate heavily in my diet.
A bowl of sprouted moong dal with a handful of pomegranates made for a great breakfast. A dalia, cucumber and pomegranate salad was a satisfying lunch and just a bowl full of pomegranates made a great after dessert after dinner. Soon enough after I had OD’d on pomegranates, I decided to give it a break for a while and kept the remaining fruits in the fruit basket in the fridge and soon enough forgot about their existence.
It wasn’t until this wretched lockdown that I started scouring my fridge for things to eat discovered this nearly 2 month old pomegranates in the fruit basket. The outer skin was a bit dry and yellowish but it still has that lovely red glow that I remember from the farm. Skeptically, I cut one open and to my surprise, the fruits were absolutely fine inside, a slightly darker red and juicier. Those fruits saw me through the first week of lockdown and I was delighted!
I took a while to get here but I can safely say that I would count pomegranates among my favourite fruits now, right up there with Mango, and that is saying a lot. These fruits were grown completely naturally and are completely chemical residue free.
As I write this, I’m hearing about the next batch being harvested at the farms which is making me giddy with excitement. Here is the link to put in your pre-orders now!
Want to explore some interesting recipes with pomegranates? Check out our extensive list here!
Comment