Pom and Circumstance

by Jenn Carbin

Maybe the appletini or Jolly Rancher didn’t ruin mixed-drink trends for you. Maybe you’re ready for a tangy, fruity drink that a) has enough sweetness to get you into trouble and b) doesn’t create the sensation that you’re at a really twisted 8-year-old’s birthday party.

Celebrated in mythology, folk medicine, literature and art for 5,000 years, the pomegranate makes an unlikely, if overdue, trendy ingredient in the United States. These days some of our local bars, like those in other big cities, are going beyond the pomegranate syrup known as grenadine and working the fruit's juice itself into martinis and margaritas. They're utilizing the gorgeous deep-red color and sweet-tart taste of the fruit's seeds, and benefit from a high-decibel advertising campaign by California's POM Wonderful juice company. POM Wonderful, which touts itself as the nation's largest producer of the Wonderful variety of pomegranates, debuted a line of refrigerated, all-natural pomegranate juices in Southern California in 2002. This past year it arrived on the shelves of our own Whole Foods markets at $2.99 for a 15.2-ounce bottle. Elsewhere, Middle Eastern stores have always sold pomegranate juice; Bitar's sells unrefrigerated pomegranate juice ($6.95 for 32 ounces) and juice concentrate ($3.95 for a 10-ounce jar).

Pomegranates are a good source of potassium and vitamin C, and studies show pomegranate juice to be a significant source of antioxidants. POM Wonderful is pushing those facts hard.

Beau Monde offered a tart, interesting pomegranate margarita made with pomegranate juice around the start of the New Year, and might bring it back for Valentine's Day. Grenadine still gets play at some places, though Valanni, for example, doesn't list it among the ingredients in its crisp, sunny Brazilian Pop cocktail on the drink menu, instead referring to "pomegranate syrup."

Stephanie Altes, a manager at Valanni, says the Brazilian Pop -- ahead of the trend -- has been on Valanni's mixed-drink list for two and a half years, and that it's "a big hit at brunch," an alternative to the warhorse mimosa. Like the mimosa, it's served icy cold but not over ice. The ingredients are pomegranate syrup ("basically the same as grenadine"), champagne and mango puree (sometimes replaced with raspberry, blueberry or strawberry).

Maybe the POM Wonderful campaign could have helped save New Delhi's pomegranate juice. House-made, nonalcoholic and spiced with sugar, cinnamon, black and green cardamom seeds, tamarind and cloves, it was a sort of Indian sangria without the hangover. It was taken off of the menu a year ago. "There just wasn't demand for it," says assistant manager Kyle Singh.

Bitar’s, 947 Federal St., 215-755-1121; 3401 Walnut St., 215-222-4513. Whole Foods Market, 929 South St., 215-733-9788; 2001 Pennsylvania Ave., 215-557-0015. Valanni, 1229 Spruce St., 215-790-9494.

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