Pomegranate

The pomegranate is a fruit bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, typically growing one and a half to five metres tall. It originated on the Iranian plateau and in the region spanning the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where ancient Iranians first domesticated it roughly 5,000 years ago before it spread through Asia, Africa and Europe. Spanish settlers introduced the pomegranate to Mexico in the late sixteenth century and to California in 1769, and it is now grown across West, South and Central Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean and parts of the Americas. The fruit ripens from September to February in the Northern Hemisphere and is central to Persian cuisine, where pomegranate molasses flavors dishes such as fesenjan.