Fresh Approach Cooking

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A few nights ago I somehow ended up at another one of those H'Wood kinda parties. You know the type, the ones that are busting at the seams with beautiful people and are replete with corporate sponsorship. This soiree, brought to us in part by the fab folks of POM Wonderful.

Smack in the middle of the revelry, at a large and cheerful white booth, there were darling young men and women furiously handing out collectible glasses of chilled POM Tea (also sold for $5 each at local markets) to the clamouring throng of hipnoscente. Happily, I was one of the lucky few that snagged a glassful before they ran out, mere moments into the fiesta.

The idea of course, was for taste-makers such as myself (ha-ha) to try, then later buy. And bonus for them, some revelers (well, this one) took some home to blog about!

The glasses - with their peel off (yet vacuum sealed) metal lid that were impossible to open without spilling some of the contents - contained one of four flavors of POM tea. Really light and delicious, extremely drinkable tea. The basic Pomegranate Black Tea was perfect, while Pomegranate Blackberry Black Tea and Pomegranate-Lychee Green Tea, were my favorites. I mean, it tastes good and is made with green tea? Yeoza! Could this stuff be better for you? On the other hand, I thought the Pomegranate-Peach Passion White Tea was (a lot to say) a little too fruity. The rest though, were slightly sweet, slightly tart, mildy tannic (in a good, tea kinda way) with a breath of fruit essence. Overall, a sheer delight. And they contain no high-fructose corn syrup! It does have POMx though…which, is, uh, "POMx is a highly-concentrated, all-natural blend of polyphenol antioxidants made from the same California pomegranates we use to make our 100% Pomegranate Juice." (Via their website) I was sold. And right then and there I became fascinated with POM and all its delicious and natural, high in antioxidant-ness.

But first, take a moment and think back to, oh, say, 2002. Had you heard of POM? Were you quaffing pomegranate martinis or buying nifty little hourglass shaped bottles ("designed to resemble two pomegranates stacked one on top of the other") of $8 wonder elixirs? Most likely not. Because as recently as four years ago nobody had even heard of POM and their POM Wonderful pomegranate. Because it didn’t exist! Nope, it just appeared, and made a splash. A big, deep red, slightly tart, splash. As a matter of fact, "the Beverage Marketing Corporation estimates that sales have totalled $50 million (£30m) since the product launched in 2003.’ THE GAURDIAN

You see, despite what the vague web site lets on to, POM is really owned by a fascinating Hollywood power-couple with a whole heck of a lot of marketing power, which totally explains how come it has become the golden foodstuff of the moment…

"The Resnicks own one of the world's largest farming operations, based in Kern County. They are co-owners of the Franklin Mint, Pom Wonderful juice and Fiji Water." - LA TIMES

"Valued at close to a billion dollars, the Resnick's business interests take in vast swathes of California's citrus orchards, including the Sunkist brand. Stewart A Resnick, 64, paid his way through law school running a janitor service. His wife Lynda, 58, is the daughter of a Hollywood producer who made horror films, including the cult classic The Blob." THE GAURDIAN

Crazy stuff right? I just love it. These people are just the most! Brilliant!Here I have been thinking it was all brought to us by some little company on a mission – because I am all about supporting the little guy -- and it doesn’t matter, because seriously, if the health benefits are true and the juice is good, the tea is absolutely great, and everybody loves a good POM-tini, well, I say, drink up. And besides, I’m a fanatic for antioxidants…even if there are more in a cup of blueberries than a glassful of this stuff…

Anyway, I guess their marketing plan worked better than expected, because here I am, suggesting to one and all that you run out and get some of their awesome tea…and the bonus "collectible glass" while actually tacky as sin to collect, (collectible glasses? What are we, six?) do have a great shape and make really perfect vases. Then again, I swear, 30 years from now, I will be kicking myself when Martha Stewart Living magazine prattles on and on about how highly collectible these suckers are…

Until tomorrow,
Rachael

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POM Wonderful has planted 6,000 acres of orchards in the San Joaquin Valley of California. That, according to the Pomegranate Council is more than half the total crop grown in the US.

Antioxidants are intimately involved in the prevention of cellular damage -- the common pathway for cancer, aging, and a variety of diseases. - Rice University.Edu

Red Delicious, Northern Spy and Ida Red, pack a greater wallop of disease-fighting antioxidants than other apples studied. - ScienceDaily.com

Tannins are detectable by a dry, sometimes puckery, sensation in the mouth and back of the throat - Epicurious

Tagged with: Food + Tea