What to look for when choosing a ripe and sweet pomegranate
Before choosing a ripe and sweet pomegranate, you need to know where it is often grown. Then carefully research some of the characteristics of the fruit. Appearance, smell, as well as the degree of softness will serve as excellent guidelines for identifying a ripe fruit. While regular suppliers are a safe bet for a successful purchase, trust alone isn't enough. It is necessary to constantly check the quality of the goods. What is the best way to do this?
Read also the article:how to properly clean a pomegranate quickly?
Country of cultivation
- South America;
- Middle East (Tashkent, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan);
- countries of the Mediterranean basin (Crimea or Turkey).
Based on this, one should give preference to those fruits that are delivered from the territories closest to the buyer. The less food is on the road, the better it is. Going straight to how to pick ripe and sweet Garnet, you need to consider its external characteristics.
A stiff crust is the first sign of long-term storage of fruits. During this period, they manage to dry out or even begin to rot. Therefore, when choosing, you should take into account other selection factors.
Skin color and condition
Outwardly, the fruits can be very beautiful and presentable. However, this is not always an indicator of excellent quality. Moreover, there are a number of subtleties that should be considered. The first thing to consider is the color of the royal fruit:
- It should be solid and with a slight glossy sheen.
- the color range of fruits largely depends on the variety, so you can find both fiery red and brown specimens, and some of them come with a pinkish or orange tint. Green and yellow fruits are considered exclusive but highly sought after varieties.
- An indicator of ripe and in excellent condition of the fruit is the absence of brown spots. It is these pigmented areas that indicate the presence of rot inside.
It is important to pay attention to the streamlining of the grenade. If the skin covers the fruit so that you can see the curves of each berry, then it is ripe enough.
The peel should be a little rough and dry well. Small or large damages indicate careless transport and inappropriate storage conditions. Any damage is the initial stage of damage to the goods.
Inflorescence
A pomegranate tail will tell a lot about maturity. The grains begin to ripen only when the inflorescence withers. Completely dried "crown" (top) of the fruit speaks of its ripeness. In this case, the flower should be completely open. Its petals are triangular in light brown tone. However, sellers will often argue otherwise with compelling reasons. Believe them or not - everyone's personal business. But the presence of green shoots on the tail, eloquently proves that the fruit is still greenish.
Assessment by touch and smell
In addition to visual analysis, it is also worth connecting your sense of touch. With the help of hands, the buyer can easily select pomegranates both in the store and in the spontaneous market.
For this, it is important to know that the ripe fruit must be:
- rough and not perfectly smooth;
- firm and elastic;
- weighty, despite its modest dimensions (some varieties weigh up to 0.7 kg).
You can check ripeness by light pressure on the fruit. If the grains are held together and a light crunch is heard, it means that they have a lot of juice, and the fruit itself has no empty areas.
Most of the damage to food is received during transportation. Fruits can be beaten or freeze, then they become soft and lose their shape.
The peculiarity of pomegranate is also that it has no aroma. If some kind of incense or a sharp, contrasting smell comes from it, most likely this batch of goods has been well treated with chemicals. Of course, you can't do without them, because such tasty, healthy products are a tasty morsel for pests and insects. However, processing should be moderate.
Taste
In order to define and select the sweet pomegranate that many want, it is important to taste it. This generally accepted practice in the field of trade simply cannot be done without. Of course, not all sellers provide this opportunity. If such a chance falls, then you need to take advantage of it. The grains will taste sweet with subtle notes of sourness, and when biting through, they will give off a lot of juice.
Turkish varieties are distinguished by a very light color of grains. However, this does not mean that they are not ripe. Color is often not a sign of maturity.
As you can see, choosing a ripe and sweet pomegranate is not a very laborious and complicated ceremony. But a little patience, as well as understanding the essence of the matter, will help to cope with the task in a matter of minutes.