The Fruitguys News: Move Over Charlie Brown, it's the Great Pomegranate!

Move Over Charlie Brown, it's the Great Pomegranate!

Posted on October 27, 2008

Dracula and Linus walk into a Halloween pumpkin patch. Linus says - "Hey, are you waiting for the great pumpkin too?" Dracula strokes his pointy chin and looks a little embarrassed. He's been trying to go vegetarian lately. He tried the patch and hypnosis but only ended up getting twitchy and sleeping soundly through the night. The dark circles under his eyes are gone and his normally pale complexion has a rosy hue. He feels horrible. "I'm vooking for my groovve again," he says somewhat self-consiously. Linus, now looking around for Snoopy, sucks his thumb but accidentally hits a hang nail and draws some blood. Dracula's eyes grow wide. He looks around frantically and spies a pomegranate tree. He floats up, grabs one, cracks it open and starts munching seeds. Deep ruby red juice drips down his chin as he laughs and vanishes into the night. Linus faints.

While we hope you don't see any pomegranate-eating vampires this Halloween, The FruitGuys is featuring this wonderful and ancient fruit in every region this week from a variety of farmers including Ronnie Cruz of Porterville, CA, who also grows citrus on the West coast. Pomegranates have been around longer than The Mummy - ancient varieties were cultivated in Mesopotamia and they pack a nutritional wallop! Pomegranates are an amazing source of potassium and contain powerful antioxidants that can help protect your blood lipids and may stop plaque from accumulating on arterial walls. The trick is how to eat one in a white shirt. The juice, just like blood, will stain your clothes. We recommend breaking the fruit apart in a bowl of water to avoid any errant red spray. Then simply pick the dazzling red pods from the rind and eat. Bite down to release the flavorful juices into your mouth and either discard the tiny seed or swallow it for an extra boost of fiber. Then debate your favorite vampire among the titans of modern cinema: Max Schreck, Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman, or Count Chocula.

Kiwi Berry warning: if you are allergic to latex you could have a reaction to the proteolytic enzymes in the Kiwi Berry. If you have ever developed contact urticaria (a rash) from exposure to latex, for example from wearing latex rubber gloves, you should avoid eating and handling the Kiwi Berry. For more information please refer to this PDF.