Alas, many people are afraid of pomegranates - not knowing how to mine the red edible seeds from the peel and pith. Others don't know what to do with the seeds once they have them. This book will put an end to the latter, with lots of tasty creative recipes for soups, starters, salads, side dishes, main courses, desserts and drinks. The full color photography that accompanies many of the recipes is sure to inspire you to put down the book and actually make some these dishes.

The book falls a little short on the basics. I would have thought a book based entirely on pomegranates would tell you everything. Instead you will find less than 2 pages. The author gives her personal favorite method for extracting seeds and making juice. There are others, like those in Molly Katzen's excellent breakfast book Sunlight Cafe.  In my opinion, Molly's methods are easier -- for instance, separate seeds from pith in a bowl of water - seeds sink, pith floats, making for easier separating and unstained hands. Molly also recommends putting whole pomegranates in plastic bags and freezing for later in the year -- if a mention of freezing exists in this book, I missed it.

Nonetheless, Pomegranates is well worth adding to your library for its fabulous pomegranate recipes, especially since this spectacular ingredient is so under-represented in most cookbooks and magazines.  The recipes are clear and well written and accompanied by some gorgeous photographs.

Sample Recipes:
See the related recipes section below for sample pomegranate recipes from this book.