Avocado Pomegranate Dip

"Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks" – it is with these words that the lover in the Song of Songs praises his beloved’s charms. The pomegranate has served as a symbol of fertility and love since antiquity and resurfaced in many different religions. In Greek mythology, for example, the god Hades forced beautiful Persephone, daughter of the earth goddess Demeter, to rule the underworld with him for one-third of the year by tricking her into eating pomegranate seeds. And in the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad recommends eating pomegranate seeds to cleanse the body of hate and jealousy.

The pomegranate is also significant in Judaism. The fruit is said to contain 613 seeds which correspond with the 613 mitzvot, or religious commandments, in the Torah. Pomegranates are traditionally served at Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration, as a reminder of God’s promise that the people of Israel would multiply and become strong.

The seeds used to be eaten raw, pressed to juice or dried, and served as a kind of raisin, but nowadays you’ll often find the aromatic seeds in fresh salads!