pomegranates and works in progress
September 30, 2016
Want to keep a child busy for an hour? How about giving her a pomegranate? My past experience with pomegranates is this: as a child my mom would hand us each a pom and send us far outside
to sit on the grass to first open, then eat. The former is an almost impossible task for a child; it must have taken an hour for little hands to pry one open, and the latter, the actual eating part, also takes forever and could be the most messy of all messy endeavors ever. But I do remember loving them so much. The little seeds looked like my ruby birthstone and I loved the way they popped in my mouth with a crunch and a tiny squirt of juice. I also remember we'd have to hose ourselves off
before we could enter the house again. Did I say these are messy?
So, what does one do when given a windfall of pomegranates? As in a whole trash bag full? I had no idea so sent out a plea to my lovely and helpful friends on Facebook and got some great ideas! I narrowed it down to freezing the individual seeds for later use in salads and desserts, juicing (jeeze, what a mess) and finally, simmering the juice down with a bit of sugar and lemon for a divine grenadine. I kept some of the grenadine in the refrigerator, but with most I made some pomegranate vodka, two bottles. Heaven.
OK, so the kitchen was a mess, but the red freckles all over the kitchen, me and my clothes cleaned up easily with soap and water. If you want to do something else messy, make borscht. I harvested a basket of beets last week and made some quarts of borscht for the freezer--and just like poms, they're beautiful, red, messy, healthy and yummy.
At the end of the post I have my current knitting projects.
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| The beauty shot: Pomegranates, real and faux. |
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| Score the skin with a knife, crack the skin open and gently pry the seeds out. Not messy, but time consuming. |
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| Flash freeze for two hours. |
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| When frozen, they will last for months in freezer. Shake out a few at a time for salads or desserts. |
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| Since I had so many I decided to juice what we couldn't eat fresh. I felt the best way to do that was to slice in half. Cutting with a knife means that juice will squirt every which way. Forge ahead. |
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| I mean it, cutting a pom is fast but messy. I went for fast and cut away then used my juicer to make a bigger mess and even make some juice. Delicious! I kept about a quart to drink fresh and with the rest I made a grenadine to flavor waters and a vodka. |
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| Add a jigger of pomegranate vodka to a tall glass of sparkling water, add ice, delish. |
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| My beet harvest. |
I have some gorgeous yarns on the needles right now. I have projects in Rowan Felted Tweed, Ysolda's Blend 1, Purl Soho's Linen Quill, Rowan's Brushed Fleece and as always, Rowan Kidsilk Haze. All these yarns are heavenly; all are equally easy to knit and make a beautifully soft and even fabric. I'm in knitting heaven this fall, no kidding. These projects are getting the most attention at the moment:
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| Oh bliss! Friday Anew with Ysolda's Blend 1! |
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| Caliban with Rowan Brushed Fleece is almost done. |
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| Purl Soho's Linen Quill might turn into Lila Light. Haven't fully decided. |
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| The Reiver Cardigan from Rowan Mag. 60 is further along now, about half way through. |
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| And then, Little Knits just had to go and have a 40% off sale and I bought two sweaters worth of KSH! (help!) |
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| Don't forget, it's time to dry the hydrangeas! |
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5 Comments
I love to see your WIPs! You've inspired me to start a Pi shawl, so I'm working on that with Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace in purple. The weather has finally turned a little cooler in Dallas so I'm looking forward to enjoying that before next year!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePomegranate de-seeding tip: cut it in half or quarters and then knock the outside with the back of a spoon - the seeds pop right out! Who knew?! It's awesome. Quick and a bit less messy. (Occasionally there's a bit of a spray...) Can't wait to see the FOs!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to be able to give you a hint re pomegranates. After you pry them open, turn them upside down over a bowl, skin side up and tap them with a wooden spoon. The seeds will fall into the bowl.
ReplyDeleteCarole
Hello,
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