In Praise of Pomegranates

                                                                   

I really love pomegranates. Their color is my favorite shade of red.                                                               

I love the little crown they wear, containing the remnants of their once spectacular flower. We planted a pomegranate when we lived in Florida and were fortunate enough to see it bloom--a blowsy pinky-coral blossom. It was hard saying goodbye to that little tree.                                                    

Some scholars have suggested that the pomegranate was the forbidden fruit in the story about the Garden of Eden. But the idea of biting into one is daunting--one would get all that white stuff between one's teeth. Not to mention the mess the juice would make.

No, one dissects the pomegranate slowly, like a meditation, cherishing each jewel-like seed. These are headed for a salad of spinach, Bosc pears, toasted pecans, and gorgonzola.

Persephone, when she was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the Underworld, refused all food until. tempted by one of the little seeds, swallowed it, dooming herself to spend half the year with her captor.

They are tempting.