P.S. I Love Nar

Nar, the Azerbaijani word for pomegranate, is by far the best fruit in Azerbaijan. Before coming here I had nar maybe once or twice in Amerika; it is more common to see that POM juice than it is to see the actual fruit. I wasn't impressed...until living here that is. Nar is DELICIOUS. It is a fall fruit--which means I am forced to binge eat it for three months before they go away until the next year. Nar is so good that I would consider living in el campo when I get back to the US just so I could grow some nar trees.

Other reasons nar is awesome:
+ it will apparently cure many/all ailments...or at least that's what Wikipedia says.
+ it's been growing in Azerbaijan since ancient times -- we may actually be the birthplace of nar! How cool is that? Yea. Qəşənqdir!
+ i've heard that Eve's 'apple' may actually have been a pomegranate. (Whoaaa I'm blowing your mind right now aren't I???)
+ Narfest! An annual pomegranate festival in Goychay, Azerbaijan that I haven't been to yet but inshallah will be attending next year. I've heard there are nar eating contests. (Yes, I will try to enter.)

Even though my love for nar knows no bounds, I still don't actually know how to peel it. I've seen Azerbaijanis do it in like two seconds; when I try, I usually stain my hands, my clothes, and end up squeezing all the juice out of the fruit. Apparently the trick is to make four slits down the top of the fruit, pull it apart with your hands into four pieces, and then pick out all the seeds. (My goal is to master this by the time I leave.) My favorite way to eat nar is by putting all the seeds in a bowl, pouring a bit of sugar on it and eating it with a spoon. (My host fam likes to pour salt on theirs). Here there are usually two kinds of nar, the sweet and sour. I have no idea how to tell the difference, but it doesn't matter too much anyway since I love it all.

Another awesome thing about nar: its great in dishes!
+ It is one of the ingredients in a DELICIOUS dish here called levengi, which is like a walnut/hazelnut paste stuffing made with onions and nar, which is usually stuffed into some kind of meat or fish and then roasted. YUM!
+ Nar is an ingredient in many salads here.
+ Did you know that grenadine is actually made out of sweetened pomegranate juice? So cool!
+ One of the PCVs here makes chocolate-nar pancakes which I haven't had but I've heard they are delectable!

Basically, if you've been sleeping on this fruit, you need to take another look at yourself, reevaluate your life choices, and start eating some nar because you have been missing out!