Dishing Up: Brussels & Pomegranate Seeds

Pomegranate seeds.

Have you tried pomegranate seeds?

Oh, I know. You know me and fruit.

Sort of a rocky relationship. But I think I have found a new love in the pomegranate.

Yes, I know – sort of ridiculous.

Yeah, yeah- so I was bowled over by the mango incident.

And I boasted about the fabulous little blueberry.

But this time I’m really serious. I love pomegranate seeds.

It wasn’t intentional.  

We first meet at a party. Lots of hor d’oeuvres – all of which I cannot remember except one.

Brightly colored jewels perched on top of whatever-it-was in the filo cup (great recollection right?). And I wasn’t prepared for what came next.

These little jewels popped open releasing this sweet then tart juice followed by the crunch of the seed. It was like – magic.

And so our relationship was born and I have never looked back.

Those jewels actually the seeds of the pomegranate called arils. There can be hundreds of arils inside just one pomegranate.

But getting those arils out can be kind of tricky and the juice of the pomegranate stains. So if you’re not careful you can literally have pomegranate juice everywhere (spoken from experience).

You can purchase just the arils in grocery stores but it’s rather expensive.

After many trial and errors, I discovered an easy and fairly clean way to remove the seeds. Now pomegranate is a pretty common item in my grocery basket during their peak season, October through January.

I must mention that lately, pomegranate juice has been pretty popular.

That’s all fine and dandy, but just as with any other fruit, eating it in it’s whole form is much better than drinking the juice. Fruit juice loses all the fiber you get from eating the whole fruit. 

Pomegranates have recently been promoted as a “superfood” that can help many symptoms from various diseases. In reality, while it does have antiviral, antibacterial and antioxidant properties, there isn’t enough strong evidence that it can prevent or treat any health conditions.

So what can you do with this brilliant little jewels? Just about anything!

Sprinkle over salads or yogurt or add to any dish to make it pop with flavor.

Pomegranate is actually a popular ingredient in Middle Eastern dishes (one of my favorite cuisines). And I must say, I make a to-die-for Brussel sprouts salad. It’s a little creamy, a little crunchy, a little salty and a little tart. Perfect compliment to any meal!

Have you tried pomegranate seeds?