Friend or Foe?  This pomegranate has been sitting on my counter for a week now.  I know they are messy and I have been avoiding it but today was the day.  I cut it in half.

         The juice is potent.  It stains the tables, fingers and mouth.  I put a big bite of seeds in my mouth and sucked.  You can't really chew.  Then I put the mash in my fingers and flung it off the porch.  I could hear the crows starting to show some interest.  I'm happy to share with them.

        What a taste!  It slithers down my throat a little at a time and pretty soon I am delving into the jeweled seeds with large bites madly trying to get more.  The orgy goes on for a long time as I thought about this being one of those things like an artichoke where you just get a little taste for a lot of work but it is worth it in the end.

      Jewels in the sun.  I can see why they are the subject of paintings.

     The Pomegranate originated in Eastern Iran.  Many cultures recognize it as a fertility symbol and I loved this story...

     " The myth of Persephone, the goddess of the Underworld, also prominently features the pomegranate. In one version of Greek mythology, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken off to live in the underworld as his wife. Her mother, Demeter (goddess of the Harvest), went into mourning for her lost daughter and thus all green things ceased to grow. Zeus, the highest ranking of the Greek gods, could not allow the Earth to die, so he commanded Hades to return Persephone. It was the rule of the Fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone had no food, but Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds while she was still his prisoner and so, because of this, she was condemned to spend six months in the Underworld every year. During these six months, when Persephone is sitting on the throne of the Underworld next to her husband Hades, her mother Demeter mourns and no longer gives fertility to the earth. This became an ancient Greek explanation for the seasons. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting Persephona depicts Persephone holding the fatal fruit. It should be noted that the number of seeds that Persephone ate varies, depending on which version of the story is told. The number of seeds she is said to have eaten ranges from three to seven, which accounts for just one barren season if it is just three or four seeds, or two barren seasons (half the year) if she ate six or seven seeds.

                                                     Happy Holidays!