Pomegranate

Punica granatum

fruit

A large yellow to orange-red berry from a tree grown since earliest Antiquity, native to the mountains of Central Asia; it holds about 600 juicy seeds on average. It provides ellagitannins, which the gut flora turns into urolithins.

Origin

Persia and Caucasus

Season (United States)

all year round · grows in your region

Preparation

Open it and free the seeds under water: the seeds sink, the bitter membranes float. Its tannins hold back plant iron: better away from an iron-rich meal than during it.

Molecules

EllagitanninsWhat slows things down Tannins (iron brake)

Did you know?

The soldier's grenade may take its name from the fruit, or from the Latin granatus, “full of grains”; in 1433, the fleet of Alfonso the Magnanimous loaded 200,000 “copper pomegranates”.