Pomegranates!, Margaritas, Jelly

 Sometimes when you ask the universe for abundance you just get it:

I inherited a pomegranate tree badly in need of water and attention.  Last year after a bit of each I was gifted with an abundance of juicy fruit. I consumed as much as one person could and shared the rest.  This year was even better.  They came earlier than expected and in raging abundance.  What to do with all of these beauties.....well over 200.

These look like baubles on a Christmas tree   Well after LuLu and Poppy get to the leaves.  

After removing the arils and juicing them the best idea I had was to make Margaritas

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup pomegranate juice

2 Tablespoons lime juice

nope no sugar

1 shot Tequila

1 Tablespoon Triple, Sec, Grand Marnier, or Cointreau

1 cup ice

you know the rest

I line my rim with half sugar, half Himalayan salt

And when you really have an abundance try making jelly, low sugar. I used this recipe from Pomona's pectin

Pomegranates should be available through November.  Enjoy or just come on over for a Margarita

Pomegranates Wonderful!

The figs have all been harvested - some by the goats.  The watermelon have been harvested.....sweet and juicy.....well the barnyard animals eat the rinds...nothing wasted around here!....and now the Pomegranates.  Last year, 2 months after I moved in, there were a measly 3 small fruit on the tree.  Some friends had a bounty and shared but this year after the rains and some enrichment of the earth I have a bounty of my own.  I stopped counting at 130.  Well now I have a problem:  what to do with all of these beauties?:

pomegranates 2019

Pom Wonderful

This is what pomegranates look like growing on a tree.  When I was a child my mother would let us pick them but we would definitely have to eat them outside with very few clothes on.  I have a vivid memory of my brother, my cousins and I eating pomegranates while stripped down to our undies and "walking" down the long driveway on homemade stilts.  Oh what fun!

blossoms

They start out as these pretty blossoms

green moms

Then around the middle of summer they start to look like these.

cross section

If you cut a pomegranate exactly in half they expose this beautiful star shape

Poppy

"Poppy, tell me how your nose got so purple"

Arils

 So what to do with this superfood?  Well just eating the arils or drinking the juice is yummy but here are some more suggestions:  (After all I have 100 or so of them and not that many friends)

Pomegranate Margarita

Pomegranate Margarita:

Pomegranate juice

lime juice

agave to sweeten

Tequila

Triple Sec

Jalapeno pepper

These can be addicting.  Try soaking a Jalapeño (pierced but not seeded) in Tequila overnight.  This will add a kick to the Tequila that is powerful.

Pomegranate champagne cocktail

Pomegranate champagne cocktail:

Pomegranate juice

champagne

reserved arils

Pomegranate jelly

Pomegranate Jelly

Time consuming but worth it.

Here's what I harvested today along with my poms.  Now time for my Margarita:

October harvest