Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
27
Pomegranate
Muharrem Ergun
INTRODUCTION
The pomegranate ( Punica granatum L.) is one of the an-
cient yet more sought after fruit. The pomegranate, contrary
to previous records citing that the pomegranate was con-
sidered native to the region of Iran and/or northern India
(Morton, 1987), probably originated in northern Turkey,
based on the fact that in the vicinity of the late-14th-century
BCE Uluburun shipwreck near Kas, Turkey, pomegranate
remains were found (Ward, 2003). The pomegranate spread
from Anatolia to Persia, Israel, India, China, Greece, Egypt,
Tunisia, Spain, Indonesia, Mexico, South America, and,
more recently, the United States.
The pomegranate plant is a fruit-bearing, small tree that
is highly branched but can grow up to 10 m tall and survive
in extreme conditions (Stover and Mercure, 2007). The
leaves have short stems and leathery surfaces; the flowers
are flashy, from white to red in color (Stover and Mercure,
2007).
Pomegranate fruit, more or less round in shape,
6.25-12.5 cm in diameter, has a course, leathery rind with a
pink to deep red or indigo to fully red color (Morton, 1987;
Holland et al., 2009). Pomegranate has some unusual vari-
eties, for example, the black pomegranate (Holland et al.,
2009). Seed plus exterior tissues make up the arils that
are transparent sacs full of flavorful, fleshy, juicy, pink,
red or whitish pulp and separated by membranous walls
and white tissue (Morton, 1987). Each aril usually contains
only one seed that is white or red, soft or hard, represent-
ing approximately 52% of the weight of the whole fruit,
as shown in Figure 27.1 (Morton, 1987). Skin color of the
rind does not necessarily match the color of the aril, indi-
cating no correlation between the color of fruit skin and aril
(Holland et al., 2009). Arils, the edible part of the fruit, con-
tain around 80-85% juice and 15-20% seed and are mostly
consumed fresh. The number of arils per fruit varies but
may be as high as 1,300 per fruit (Al-Maiman and Ahmad,
2002; Levin, 2006).
Consumption trends
The demand for pomegranate fruit and its by-products is
rising exponentially, especially in the Western world, owing
to the growing awareness of the health-promoting benefits
of pomegranate. Because of this trend, Iran and India are
becoming leaders of the pomegranate market, followed by
China and Turkey (Borgese and Massini, 2007). The trend
for either cultivation or consumption is increasing in many
pomegranate-cultivating countries. These countries opt to
process fruit to juice and juice concentrate, exporting the
concentrate to the entire world since numerous different
juices, products, and functional beverages are formulated
using juice concentrate (Borgese and Massini, 2007).
Significance in human health
Pomegranate fruit is highly appreciated for beneficial
health effects in the form of decreasing cardiovascular
and other chronic diseases due to its high contents of or-
ganic acids, vitamins, polysaccharides, essential minerals,
and most importantly, antioxidants (Al-Maiman and Ah-
mad, 2002; Longtin, 2003). The high antioxidant nature of
pomegranate fruit has played a major role in its increased
consumption across developed countries, especially in the
form of juice and other processed products.
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