The makers of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice have made an interesting marketing decision. They are positioning and advertising pomegranate juice as a health food. Most of what I see and hear about it is the medical research showing how good it is for your heart, prostate and erectile function. Yes, they’re very proud that drinking it seems to improve erectile function.
Not that there’s anything wrong with improved erectile function, but it’s surprising that they don’t talk much about one of the other benefits: It tastes good. Maybe they’re right that people choose their fruit juices based on what makes the willie work. If that’s you, go ahead and check out all the health information on the POM Wonderful site. If you’re just interested in a distinctive salad dressing that’s great on spinach, read on.
(Full disclosure: POM Wonderful sent me a couple of bottles of juice to try. They hoped I would publish a review, which I’m starting today, but they have no editorial control over what I write.)
Ingredients
4 ounces POM Wonderful pomegranate juice (see below)
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
juice of 1/4 small lemon (1-2 tablespoons)
Salad
Fresh spinach
walnuts
Montchevre (or feta) crumbled goat cheese
Red onion
Directions
First a note on calling for a brand name ingredient. Normally I don’t do that, but according to the POM Wonderful site:
According to recent tests conducted by three independent labs, nine out of ten so-called “pomegranate juices” had added sugars, colors and low-grade fruit juices.
I already try to get local food as much as possible. Today, that frequently means it’s from California rather than imported from overseas. POM Wonderful is the only one I’ve seen that’s not imported. If you find another brand that you like, feel free to substitute.
If you’ve never had pomegranate juice, it has a fruity flavor but is not very sweet, almost like a dry wine. Make sure you shake it well or the last sip from the bottle will bring some mighty pucker power. My wife and I agree that it’s a little too tart to drink on its own. My father-in-law, who is more of a wine drinker, liked it straight.
So on to the dressing. In a small pan, combine the pomegranate juice and lemon juice.
Add the raspberries and crush with a fork. Don’t crush them first. With such a small amount you’d lose half the juice and have one more bowl to clean.
Cook over medium heat until reduced enough to be a little syrupy. It should stick to the back of a spoon. Then move the pan to an ice bath to cool. Just fill a bowl with ice and set the pan in it. (Obviously I forgot to take the picture until the ice had already melted.)
While that cools, clean and dry the spinach, or use a bag of ready-to-eat. Chop the walnuts and dice the onion. Assemble the salads. (I’m not listing amounts here, because I don’t know how much you like walnuts or how hot your onions are.)
Pour the cooled dressing over the salad, and add a handful of the cheese. Montchevre, by the way, is a goat cheese somewhat like Feta. It’s a bit softer and milder tasting.
If you do the cheese first, it will soak up lots of the dressing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it looks nicer doing the cheese last.
And that’s it.
Coming soon: A few more ways to use pomegranate juice.
