Its genus name, Punica, is a constant reminder that the Phoenicians were the mediators in spreading its cultivation, partly for religious reasons. The plant is a glossy-leaved shrub and the fruit, between an orange and a grapefruit in size, has a thick reddish skin and many seeds. The edible parts are the brilliant red seed pulp and seeds.
The acidic juice of pomegranates is used in Indian cookery; thickened and sweetened it makes grenadine syrup, used in cocktail mixing.
Pomegranate Nutrition Facts: Calories, Carbs, and Health Benefits
Pomegranate is about 77.93% water, 18.7% carbohydrates (including 13.67% sugar and 4% dietary fiber), 1.67% protein, and 1.17% fat. One pomegranate will give you with 52.734 grams of carbohydrates. It is equal to 40.56 percent of the 130 grams of carbohydrates you need on a daily basis, according to the Institute of Medicine (US). That same in a 100 gram amount, pomegranate supplies 83 calories and is a good source of Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) (18.22% DV) and Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) (13.6% DV). So if you have pomegranate in your diet, it helps your body to stabilise blood clots and heal wounds faster, regulate concentration of calcium in the blood, retent of episodic memory (in older people) and it is effective against excessive bleedingosteoporosis by regulating calcium levelshigh cholesterol level. In addition it contains a moderate amount of Copper (17.56% DV).
Pomegranates originated in the region extending from modern-day Iran through Afghanistan and Pakistan to northern India, and has been cultivated since ancient times throughout the Mediterranean region.
The name “pomegranate” comes from medieval Latin “pomum” meaning apple and “granatum” meaning seeded.
The French term for pomegranate, “grenade,” has given its name to the military grenade.
Carbonized exocarp of pomegranate has been identified in early Bronze Age levels of Jericho in the West Bank, as well as the late Bronze Age levels of Hala Sultan Tekke on Cyprus and Tiryns.
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.”
Pomegranate is one of the seven spices, seven fruits and grains named in the Hebrew Bible as being native to Israel.
Many scholars believe that it was a pomegranate and not an apple that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
In Greek mythology, Persephone is condemned to spend every winter in the underworld after the god Hades tricks her into eating pomegranate seeds.
In Japan, the pomegranate plant is often used for bonsai because of the interesting twisted bark that some pomegranate plants can attain.
