The Fruit Truck has fresh pomegranates from California available right now at The Fruit Truck Market in Sioux Falls (3601 S. Minnesota Ave.) You can also order here!
Pomegranates are one of my favorite fruits because they are fun to eat and delicious. These juicy, freshly-picked fruits have so many health benefits, you might be surprised how they can even help your mental health.
How is this possible? Well, pomegranates are full of antioxidants, actually moreso than other fruits. Antioxidants are hugely beneficial to our bodies. (The specific micronutrient packed with antioxidants in pomegranate is polyphenois.)
To briefly explain...
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary,
'Antioxidant : a substance (such as beta-carotene or vitamin C) that inhibits oxidation or reactions promoted by oxygen, peroxides, or free radicals'
To put this in layman's (simple) terms...antioxidants help fight bad things that have entered the body. Some of these bad things...that could lead to oxidative stress include obesity, smoking, consuming processed foods & artificial sweeteners, pollution, radiation, exposure to certain chemicals among other things. Antioxidants in pomegranates will help balance out the bad with the good.
So what's another thing hard on our bodies? You guessed it, stress. A new British study shows pomegranate juice actually calmed people in the workplace. This 2020 study was small, but the doctor leading the research was convinced pomegranates DID alleviate work-related stress.
Learn more about the study here.
Other health benefits of pomegranates:
Lowers Blood Pressure
Reduces Blood Sugar Levels
High in Fiber - Promoting Weight Loss
Contains Folate - Great for Pregnant Women
Vitamin K - Helps Blood Clot, Wounds Heal
Vitamin E - Immune Support & Skin Health
Vitamin C - Boosts immunity, helps formation of collagen, lowers risk of heart disease & more
These pictures show delicious pomegranate mixed with mandarins and kiwi for an amazing, healthy snack,
So we now know the health benefits of pomegranates, but how do we store this unique fruit?
If you plan on eating the fruit right away, leaving pomegranates on the counter is a-okay. Just keep them out of direct sunlight. It will last for a couple days to a week.
If you have opened the pomegranate and taken out the delicious seeds, those do need refrigeration and can last up to a week.
If you don't want your pomegranate right away, you can store the whole fruit in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Also, you can freeze the pomegranate whole or just the seeds to save them for later.