The Lovely Pomegranate

Before the time of my brothers, my sister and I would sit next to our mom and patiently watch her crack open one of these guys.  We three would sit on the floor looking down into a big bowl.  On the floor sat a newspaper hoping to catch the inevitable scarlet spatter that escaped the bowl.  Sometimes, a neighbor would be over, one of uhmmah's girlfriends, and the four of us would share.  This is the memory that pops into my head whenever I see a pomegranate.

This, and the story of Persephone.  The goddess of the underworld sounds like a powerful title, but Greek mythology actually holds that Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld.  She was tricked into staying there...because she ate a few pomegranate seeds.  The gods struck a deal: Persephone would split her time between the earth and the underworld.  Her mother Demeter, the goddess of fertility and harvest, objected, but nothing could be done.  And so, when Persephone is with her husband Hades in the underworld, Demeter sees to it that the earth doesn't produce crops, but once Persephone is reunited with her mother on earth, the lands become fertile again.  Hence, the ancient explanation for the cycle of seasons.  Perhaps also, the ancient belief that the pomegranate had contraceptive properties.

If you have the opportunity to get your hands on a whole pomegranate, please do so, if only to learn what it looks like before it's sprinkled on your salad, or reduced into a sauce for your chicken.  Be patient, handle the insides delicately, and maybe you will be rewarded with two bountiful cups of ruby red capsules like this one yielded.