Day 2 of the POM experience: TO THE ORCHARDS!!!!!

Before this experience I didn’t know if pomegranates came from trees, shrubs, bushes, or just miraculously fell out of the sky. I did know one thing about pomegranates though, they are f’ing delicious!

During the POM tour we had a chance to visit the lovely pomegranates and pick our own pomegranate to take home. I was so excited and when we reached the orchard my quest began to find the perfect pomegranate.

While in my search for perfection Brad, from POM, told us a little of what they are looking for when they are searching for the perfect pomegranate.

Ok, so dark red coloring, no scratches, scuffs, scars, or any other impurities. Perfection…… It was a little tough finding one since the pickers had already been through that side of the orchard once. There are approximately 2,000 pickers that are hired during the harvest season and about 200 of them are picking in groups at any given time.

A few facts about the orchard:

The oldest pomegranate shrub is 38.

It takes 3 years for a shrub to produce

I say shrub because it’s not a tree…..it’s like a mix between a tree and a shrub. I’m still a little confused what to call it.

The majority of the orchard was planted in 2001

They were actually in the Pistachio business (click) before the pomegranate business. There were  a few pomegranate trees on the orchard and the workers that were picking the pistachio trees were eating the pomegranates like crazy then the owners of the company wanted to know what the fuss was all about so they took a chance and here we are today.

The POM Wonderful is actually a breed of Pomegranate. There are other types of pomegranates out there but nothing like the POM Wonderful. That may sound like a sales line but I’ve seen them with my own eyes and it’s true.

Pomegranates can be damaged by the sun easily so they are sprayed with a “suntan” lotion. I suggested they move to Seattle but the pomegranates like hot and dry weather. Too much water causes them to explode.

Explody time! If I could have reached it I would have eaten it.

It’s amazing to see what gets left for juice and what is sent to the plant to sell as a whole pomegranate. At this point of the trip I was starting to realize the amount of work it takes to find the perfect pomegranate and I wasn’t sure if I was going to find it. The pickers had already gone through and found their perfect poms and I certainly didn’t have the experience/height to find what I was looking for……until something miraculous happened.

I heard something making a whooshing noise kind of like a 95 MPH fast ball. I looked around and then looked up…..

What the?!?!  Oh crap……I GOT IT…..I GOT IT……I GOT IT!!!!

How….what…..ummmmm……THE CHOSEN POMEGRANATE!!!! I shall name him Tom the Pom.

Tom the Pom and I will be on a couple of adventures today so be sure to check back or if you want to, check out my Facebook page and see live Tom the Pom updates! If you’re not my friend on Facebook yet then do it now!

Eric