Round Six: Pink Pomegranates

It's true that Chinese pomegranates can't compare to yours for striking redness. They don't even try. At first I thought all the pomegranates here were underripe, and I was waiting impatiently for them to get ripe. But no--they're really just that pinkish-greenish color. I saw people eating one, so I decided I should try one too. What would they look like inside, I wondered? Incidentally, I asked the people I saw eating it what it's called in Chinese. The answer sounded exactly like the Chinese word for 16, with is why I was able to remember it long enough to look it up. The actual characters are 石榴. The second one is probably specifically botanical, but the first one means stone.

Anyway, I obviously didn't make such a beautiful pattern opening mine up. I just kind of tore into it. But the contrast goes a lot farther than that. Not only are Chinese pomegranate seeds pink also, but they are much larger than I expected. Of course the stones are larger too. Still, I think mine was quicker to eat than your average red pomegranate. And, despite their unripe-looking color, they were very sweet and juicy, less acidic than the red ones. Interestingly, the juice is almost clear and doesn't stain at all: no sanguine fingers or spatters incarnadine.* It got me started wondering if people here have ever even seen a red pomegranate. Clearly they're not big importers of pomegranates since they grow their own.

* Actually, I looked up "incarnadine" and discovered that it has two meanings. One, the "blood-red" familiar from MacBeth, but the other "flesh-colored", which is decidedly appropriate here. So I pronounce we are safe describing pomegranates both east and west as incarnadine.