Okay, I promised in an earlier post more from Canadian artist Mary Pratt. Her luminous still life Two Pomegranates in a Glass Bowl (1984) captures the bulbous beauty of this exotic fruit. This is what she shares with us about pomegranates:
Mary Pratt writes:
“I have never cooked with pomegranates, but the juice makes a very good “ice”. The juice can now be bought in bottles, and I’d do this, as soaking the seeds in water and then squeezing the liquid through cheesecloth is an unnecessary nuisance. Freezing the juice with a “simple syrup” of sugar and water, and mushing it constantly with a fork or handheld blender is not difficult. But somehow, I’d rather have a chef in a good restaurant do all that. I just like the leathery look of pomegranate – and the startling appearance of those tumble of seeds when the fruit is split. “The Song of Solomon”, myth and legend – pomegranates have inspired men and women as long as we have records of the written work, paintings and sculptures.
Exodus 37, King James Bible
‘and they made upon the hems/of the robe pomegranates of blue,/ and purple and scarlet, and twined linen/ and they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the/robe, round about between the /pomegranates:/ a bell and a pomegranate, a bell/ and a pomegranate, round about the/hem of the robe/ to minister in; as the/ Lord commanded Moses.’
The Songs of Solomon Ch. 4 – 3 ‘Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,/ and they speech is comely: thy/ temples are like a piece of a/ pomegranate within they locks.’ "
Ms. Pratt – thank you so much! Do any of you have pomegranate thoughts to share?