Highly prized for their ruby-red arils hidden beneath a tough exterior, pomegranates are considered the exotic treasures of the fruit world.

Pomegranates are simply bursting with flavour, goodness and inspiration for a myriad of serving suggestions. Their juice makes a fantastic base for sauces, a flavouring for drinks, and provides a touch of the exotic in savoury dishes or desserts. Pomegranate seeds can be eaten fresh or used as an attractive garnish. Open a pomegranate and discover for yourself the juicy, tangy-sweet surprise inside!

Pomegranates are also known to contain polyphenols, or nature's antioxidants, which help the body fight disease and the effects of aging - even more reason to get to know a pom!

Native to a wide region stretching from Iran to the Himalayas in India, pomegranates have been cultivated and revered since ancient times. Few other fruits have been depicted in art, religion or literature quite as beautifully as the gorgeous pomegranate.

Why so wonderful?
Pomegranates were first introduced to the USA by Spanish settlers in 1769 and since then, many varieties have been cultivated. POM Wonderful variety pomegranates were first propagated in California in 1896 - all that practice producing today's perfect fruit!

Pomegranate Refresh
Thanks to Perfection Fresh's commitment to importing wonderful, Wonderful variety pomegranates, these delicacies are available across Australia for a short four-month period from October each year. At the close of the imported pomegranate season, watch for the arrival of Australian-grown, Wonderful variety pomegranates in-store, from January to June.

Source: Perfection Fresh

Publication date: 12/4/2007

Joe, your a good salesman for the Pomegranate industry. I seen a display of Wonderful pomegranates on the market, (2 or $3.00) so I purchased a couple. I wish you would have told be about the reduced aging effects of pomegranates when I was in my 40's. Thanks

Millet, it was Harvey who infected me. I never liked pomegranates when I was a kid because of the many seeds. Then I got invited into the Wolfskill Experimental Orchard for Pomegranate tasting sponsored by USDA, unfortunately, their last public tasting due to reduced funding. I tasted for myself how diversified pomegranates were and that the seeds are good for you too. If I can eat grape seeds, pomegranate seeds are even better. Having tasted a vast array of pomegranates, I got hooked. Already have plans for ultra-dwarfing grafting and perhaps multi-grafted pomegranate cultivars. Already placed my order at pomegranate germplasm for my yard trials. Been compiling information about them and post them here if I come across, not really meaning to be a salesman.

Next time you are in Safeway or other retail stores, there is a promo coupon that you can enter a chance to win some prizes.

I was thinking of having a go at growing Pomegranates and would be very interested to know how you get on, I did a google search and came up with these:-

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/citrus/pomegranate.htm

http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/crops/pomegranate_factsheet.shtml

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/propa/msg0809264017014.html

http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/garden/pomegranate-punica-facts.htm

Seeds available from here:-

http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/SeedOrders/enter.html

But I think I would suffer from my usual space, climate problems. But would be great to give it a go! Apparently Pomegranate Juice and as a cooking ingredient is very trendy over here?! Juice is supposed to be good mixed with sparkling wine (cava etc), so I think I'll give it a try Christmas morning (start as you mean to go?!)

Also thought about Figs, has anyone tried these? Any tips etc?

Nick,

Here are other important links:
http://www.purelypoms.com/PhotoIndex.htm
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?30372
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=12170


You can also be a member of this yahoo group:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PomWorldwide/

There is some interesting info here: http://search.usda.gov/search?q=pomegranate&btnG=Go%21&filter=0&as_sitesearch=ars.usda.gov&ie=&output=xml_no_dtd&client=usda&lr=&proxystylesheet=ARS&oe=&x=17&y=10

They have a unbelievable number of pomegranate varieties listed.

I sent an email to these folks requesting for some scion wood for a few fruit trees (mostly persimmons), but have never heard anything back from them. I followed their instructions, but I am not sure how they handle requests from individuals. Anyone familiar with the process?

Ned

I posted my orders several weeks ago, before the deadline on December 1. So I will report what happens. They get good feedback from those ordering the figs.

Also, Harvey has ordered from them and when they learned it was for trial, they even propagated the pomegranates for Harvey.

I primarily selected the pomegranate cultivars with wine making in mind, after going to their last publicly open tasting event.

I posted mine before the deadline too. I guess it is just wait and see at this point.

Ned

Just got an email from Angelique of USDA-ARS telling me that they have acknowledged my orders and then to just wait for the shipping when they collect scionwood early next year.