POMEGRANATE - Punica Granatum

Sensuous love and passion,

fertility and immortality.

The Crowned & Seeded Apple - POMEGRANATE

A native of Persia and the Himalayas of India, the Pomegranate. In Syria, this fruit shares the same name with the Sun, Hadad Rimmon. The oldest evidence of the pomegranate is found on a Mesopotamian ritual vase from the fourth millennium BC. In Egypt, Pomegranate blossoms were woven into the necklaces of many high-rankers before they were buried.

The pomegranate, Punica granatum, has been a sign of love, seduction, hope, rebirth, immortality and fertility.

Pomegranates are drought-tolerant and were cultivated in early Egypt and Palestine and then in China in the second millennium BC. It was an essential at weddings because of it was considered as a symbol of fertility, but, as it was also considered seductive it was forbidden at rituals.

In Christian symbolism, pomegranate was stripped of its sensuous associations and became a symbol of compassion and represented the virtues of Virgin Mary.

Symbol of love, hope and fertility was a symbol of power as well. They were incorporated as royal symbols by Moorish Sultan of Granada and Henry IV of England.
 

I can see the extensive use of pomegranate in medications, drugs and cosmetics. Pomegranate aril juice provides about 16% of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving, and is a good source of vitamin B_5. It is said to be an antioxidant but the studies are still going on and no proofs have been found yet.  

This is what Wiki has to say about it - The polyphenols in pomegranate juice are the hydrolyzable tannins called ellagitannins formed when ellagic acid binds with a carbohydrate. Punicalagins are unique pomegranate tannins with free-radical scavenging properties in laboratory experiments^[24] and with potential human effects.^[25] Punicalagins are absorbed into the human body and may have dietary value as antioxidants ) but conclusive proof of efficacy in humans has not yet been shown.

P.S. Click on the link to watch how to cut open a Pomegranate and remove the seeds easily.