The New Complete Book of Food

(Kiana) #1

0 The New Complete Book of Food


Storing This Food
Store pomegranates in the refrigerator and use within a week.

Preparing This Food
Slice through the stem end of the pomegranate and pull off the top—carefully, to avoid
splashing red pomegranate juice all over yourself. Then slice the pomegranate into wedges
and pull the wedges apart. Once you cut the pomegranate apart you can handle it in one
of two ways, the messy way and the neat way. The messy way is to pull the seeds out of
the pomegranate, crush them in your teeth to get the juice, and then spit out the crushed
seeds. The neat way is to put the seeds through a strainer, collect the juice, and discard
the seeds.

What Happens When You Cook This Food
* * *

How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food
Freezing. You can freeze a whole pomegranate or just its seeds. To eat, just thaw.

Medical Uses and/or Benefits
Lower risk of stroke. Various nutrition studies have attested to the power of adequate
potassium to keep blood pressure within safe levels. For example, in the 1990s, data from
the long-running Harvard School of Public Health/Health Professionals Follow-Up Study
of male doctors showed that a diet rich in high-potassium foods such as bananas, oranges,
and plantain may reduce the risk of stroke. In the study, the men who ate the higher
number of potassium-rich foods (an average of nine servings a day) had a risk of stroke 38
percent lower than that of men who consumed fewer than four servings a day. In 2008, a
similar survey at the Queen’s Medical Center (Honolulu) showed a similar protective effect
among men and women using diuretic drugs (medicines that increase urination and thus
the loss of potassium).
Lower levels of cholesterol. Pomegranate liquid is rich in polyphenols, antioxidant com-
pounds that help lower “bad” cholesterol. Nutrition researchers at the Technion Faculty
of Medicine and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa (Israel) rate pomegranate juice higher
in polyphenols than red wine, blueberry juice, cranberry juice, green tea, black tea, and
orange juice.
Potassium replacement. Because potassium is excreted in urine, potassium-rich foods are
often recommended for people who are taking diuretic drugs.
Free download pdf