The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is one of the oldest fruits known to man.  The pomegranate is a rounded shrub that typically grows 12 to 16 feet high and is native from India to Iran.  The rich, red fruit is surrounded by a hard leathery skin that protects a delicate sweetly flavored inside.

 

A shrub or small tree that can grow 20 to 30 feet high but usually has an average of 12 to 16 feet.  The pomegranate has many spiny branches and has a tendency to sucker from the base.  The leaves are deciduous in whorls of 5 or 6, short-stemmed, oblong, 3/8 to 4 inches long, and leathery.  The flowers grow on the branch tips in clusters.  They are 1 inch wide and characterized by the thick, tubular, red calyx, pointed sepals forming a vase from which emerge the 3 to 7 red, white or variegated petals.  Nearly round, but crowned at the base by the prominent calyx, the fruit, 2 1/2 to 5 inches wide, has a tough, leathery skin that is red.  The interior is separated by membranous walls and white spongy tissue into compartments packed with transparent sacs filled with flavorful juice.  There is one hard seed in each sac. 

 

The pomegranate is native from India to Iran and was cultivated over the whole Mediterranean region since ancient times.  It is widely cultivated throughout India and the drier parts of southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies and tropical Africa.  The tree was introduced into California by Spanish settlers in 1769.

 

The fruits ripen 6 to 7 months after flowering.  The fruit cannot be ripened until taken off the tree. Growers generally consider the fruit ready for harvest if it makes a metallic sound when tapped.  The fruit must be picked before over maturity when it tends to crack open.  The fruits should not be pulled off but clipped close to the base so as to leave no stem to cause damage in handling and shipping.  Appearance is important, especially in the United States where pomegranates may be purchased primarily to enhance table arrangements and other fall (harvest-time) decorations.  Too much sun exposure causes sunscald–brown, rusted blemishes and roughening of the rind.