In My Doctor's Waiting Room - Article On Sonoran Pomegranate Varieties
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A Love Affair With Pomegranates
by Jesús M. García, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
As far back as I can remember, pomegranates have been part of my life
It was always a fruit flavor I looked forward to every year. Where I grew up in the Magdalena River Valley in northern Sonora, Mexico, fruit tree orchards were everywhere—in villages along the fertile banks of the river, lining the irrigation canals, and in backyards.
Every fall I helped my relatives harvest great quantities of fruit, not only pomegranates but also quinces, peaches, and plums, as well as vegetable crops. Among all these crops, pomegranates have always been my favorite, owing in part to their unique shape, color, and, of course, their flavor.
Eating pomegranates was a special once-a-year treat occurring in late summer and early fall when pomegranates ripened. Back then, I knew only of two varieties: one called agosteña, which is an early variety that ripens in August, and octubreña, which ripens in October. Although they have very different external appearances— the agosteña is yellowish with red blotches, whereas the octubreña is greenish with dark specks—they both have very similar flavors and colors on the inside.
In the last 10 years, my fascination with pomegranates has only increased. I have been intimately involved with the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project, researching, locating and propagating trees of the same stock as those introduced into this region by the European missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries.
This project has allowed me to explore regional, historic fruit trees. And I have happily discovered many more varieties of pomegranates since the original two of my youth. Some of these have been part of the Tucson community for centuries and some are recent arrivals from the Middle East. The discovery of white pomegranates in Tucson, for example, was a delightful surprise.
Most people are familiar only with the one pomegranate variety available in supermarkets which is called 'Wonderful.' It is very large, with thick red skin, a tart flavor, and hard seeds.
The white pomegranates of Tucson, and the agosteñas and octubreñas of Magdalena, are smaller in size, with yellow-greenish exteriors and very sweet, soft seeds, without tartness. I learned to distinguish and identify these traits, from my friend, agronomist Dr. Alfredo González, who has been experimenting
with a large number of varieties from the National Clonal Germ- plasm Repository, at the University of California, Davis.
From this relationship, I have come to understand the great diversity of flavors pomegranates can offer. They vary based on latitude, elevation, microclimates, etc., providing both fruiting and ornamental types. Since they were introduced into the Sonoran Desert region in the late 17th century, they have been propagated mainly from cuttings.
Even within the heirloom varieties in the Pimería Alta (Central Sonora to the Gila River in Arizona), according to their microclimate and geographic disparities, pomegranates have adapted to niches in which they express slightly different characteristics, such as the thickness of the rind and internal membranes, size of arils (the fleshy fruit encasing the seeds), sensitivity to temperature, hardness of seeds, and flavors.
It is not known whether these heirloom varieties are of similar origin and have adapted to different situations, whether they were grown from seed, which would have altered their genetic traits through pollination, or whether Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries introduced a wide array of varieties that are still present.
In the last few years, the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project, based at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and originally funded by the National Park Service, has given rise to the propagation of various types of pomegranates. These have been planted at the re-established orchard at Tumacácori National Historical Park, in Mission Garden at Tucson’s Birthplace, in Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona. In addition, they are being cultivated at several local school and community gardens and in many home gardens of pomegranate enthusiasts.
This flavorful fruit epitomizes a traditional crop that has adapted to the environment and has been embraced by the region’s peoples, thus rendering it a symbol of local agriculture that has withstood the test of time.
Often, when I cut open and eat a pomegranate, I remember my childhood vividly. I recall sitting near the irrigation canal under a row of very old pomegranate trees with my father and my brothers.
As we ate the pomegranate, our father would challenge us to a game: Whoever dropped the smallest number of arils would win. That’s when I learned that it’s virtually impossible to eat a pomegranate without dropping any arils! I suppose this was one way a pomegranate evolved to ensure the dispersal of its seeds and its long-term survival.
DL
Jesús M. García is an education specialist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Comments for publication should be addressed to letters@desertleaf.com.
