Inspirational Pomegranate Madness !!!

Let's see how easy it is to send your cells into a cryptic overdrive as they try and untangle these fantastic juicy facts around something which we must have all tasted and used before but probably never taken the time to understand the facts around its existence

Here we go are you ready for this, it could give you a headache.

India is the world’s largest producer of pomegranates, followed by Iran.

Pomegranates belong to the berry family (that’s right its actually a berry !!).

Pomegranate trees grow in hot and dry climates if you have been on holiday this year abroad you may have spotted a tree. It can reach a height of 25 Feet - Amazingly pomegranate trees can live for over 250 years.

The name “pomegranate” derives from medieval Latin “pomum” meaning apple and “granatum” meaning seeded.

There are over 760 varieties of pomegranate on our planet!!!

Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate fruit is a symbol of righteousness because its 613 seeds correspond with the 613 commandments of the Torah.

In Greece, a traditional housewarming gift is a pomegranate placed under or near the house in order to bring good luck, fertility and abundance to all that reside there.

Legends hold stories of cheeky Xerxes riding out of Sardis with his soldiers, hoping to complete his father Darius’ failed mission to conquer Greece. Xerxes’ warriors held modified spears, which showcased their belief in their immortality, or to hope of striking terror into the breasts of the fruit-fearing enemy:

“Behind Xerxes came a thousand spearmen of the best and noblest blood of Persia, carrying their spears in a customary manner; after them, a thousand picked Persian horsemen, and after the horse ten thousand that were foot soldiers.

One thousand of these held golden pomegranates on their spear-shafts instead of a spike, and surrounded the rest; the nine thousand who were inside them had silver pomegranates. Those who held their spears reversed also carried golden pomegranates, and those following nearest to Xerxes had apples of gold”

While Xerxes did manage to maintain the Persian grip over Egypt, and while he did almost burn Greece to the ground, the final result was that his troops lost to the Greeks, at the famed battle of Salamis, in 480 B.C.E.

Unfortunetly the believe that the luscious and most delicious pomegranate fruit could save them from the fierce and blood-curdling enemy was false and many perilled.

It would have been easier and safer for them to stay at home and watch Eastenders and eat the fruits with a pin!!!