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Pomegranate is native to Persia and the Persian plateau.

Punica granatum, commonly called pomegranate, is a multi-stemmed shrub or a small tree that grows to 2-6 meter tall. From the Persian plateau, it has acclimatized over time around the Middle East, South Asia, and Mediterranean region for several millennia, and also thrives in the dry climate of California and Arizona. In proper growing conditions, trumpet-shaped, orange-red flowers bloom throughout the summer singly or in clusters at the branch ends. Flowers give way to orange-sized, leathery-skinned, globes fruits (5-12 cm in diameter) that ripen to yellow tinged with red. Fruit interior is divided into compartments packed with fleshy, juicy, edible sacs (arils) that surround the seeds. Pomegranates vary in flavor, sweetness and tartness depending on where they are grown. P.granatum has more than 500 named cultivars, but evidently has considerable synonymy in which the same genotype is named differently across regions of the world.

Pomegranate in history

Pomegranates originate from the Persian plateau, where they have been cultivated for nearly 5,000 years. Esfandiyar, one of the most powerful mythical heroes of Zoroastrianism, the oldest religion continuously practiced in Persia, ate pomegranate to gain great strength and abilities before battles. Of course, he was always victorious. As pomegranates spread, they became part of the art, architecture, folktales, literature and cuisine of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. From Persia and the ancient Mediterranean, pomegranates traveled throughout Central Asia and Pakistan, reaching India and China around the first century CE and moving on to Indonesia, Africa and eventually the Americas. It is not surprising to find numerous references to pomegranates in the Torah and other founding texts since it was already cultivated in Egypt before the time of Moses. In each culture, pomegranates carry a different meaning. It can symbolize love, fertility, abundance, marriage and is also the fruit of the dead.