[Sca-cooks] Pomegranate seeds

[Sharon Palmer]

The fleshy aril is the flavorful part.  The seed itself can be eaten, 
but doesn't really have any flavor.  The dried ones used in Middle 
eastern and Indian cooking include the flesh.  The Indian ones I have 
are -very- hard, and can't be eaten without grinding - lots of 
grinding.  I've heard there are softer Middle eastern ones, that are 
more like raisins with a seed in the middle.

The dried ones are used to add sourness to a dish, much like adding 
lemon or verjuice, but they are nearly black and not the beautiful 
red jewel of fresh ones.

It's possible and even likely that dried ones were used in period, 
but they seem an unlikely garnish.  At least they would need to be 
soaked or something.  I'm sure that when the texts say grain, they 
mean the whole aril whether fresh or dry, not just the seed inside.

Ranvaig


>I think you've caught on to my point. If one goes back and examines the
>actual original recipe, it doesn't state fresh or in season 
>pomegranates, does it?
>
>All these various conversations about the fruits not being in season 
>at the same time
>may not matter at all, since the recipe calls for "the graynys of 
>Pome-garnad."
>
>Johnnae
>
>On Feb 25, 2010, at 4:19 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
>
>>It's actually Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books
>>(England, 1430)
>>
>>Cxxiij - Strawberye. snipped droppe it a-bowte,
>>plante it with the graynys of Pome-garnad, and than serue it forth.
>>
>>Johnnae
>>-------
>>
>>So I assume these "graynys of Pome-garnad" are Pomegranate "seeds". 
>>But what are we assuming? that these are globules? of fruit and not 
>>what 'Lainie is calling "pips"? "graynys" sounds more like the pips 
>>than the fruit. They would also keep better from one season to the 
>>next, compared to the fleshy fruit portion.
>>When I think of seeds, I think of the hard, grainy things in a 
>>fruit that if you plant grow into a new plant, which I assume these 
>>"pips" are, and not the soft fleshy stuff, which presumably 
>>provides food/minerals/moisture to the seed to grow in.  Have I got 
>>the wrong idea of "seed"?
>>Okay, doing some web searching. I think I see one problem. In some 
>>accounts "seed" seems to be the "pip" while in other accounts it 
>>seems to mean the pip and the fleshy part and membrane that 
>>surround each seed.snipped
>>Okay, I'm not certain I clarified anything, but maybe some other 
>>info to consider.
>>
>>Stefan
>>--------
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org