A landlocked herring found in Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. Rick Stein describes them as having a sweet smell like "cucumber" when taken from the water.
The pomegranate is a fruit, orange to red in colour, with a leathery skin and lots of deep red seeds which sit in a sort of jelly inside the fruit which is, in itself, surrounded by white pith. It has a notably, sculpted calyx. The pink to crimson seeds can be scooped out, avoiding the bitter cream-coloured membrane. This is helped by first rolling the fruit, pressing it lightly, to loosen them.. Alternatively, cut the fruit in half and then whack it with a wooden spoon and the seeds will fly out. To make juice it is necessary to whizz the seeds and then put the pulp into a muslim bag and hang it up for the juice to drip through. The seeds are almost crunchy, and burst with flavour when you snap into them with your teeth. rees are small and compact and can grow well in pots, as long as they are well drained. When I was travelling in Afghanistan in 1978, a friend and I arrived in Kandahar when the pomegranates were ripe. Every market stall was gloriously heaped with them. We tried later to go to Bamiyan and the Ban-di-Amir lakes, but were forbidden access to the area. After some persistence we discovered that there were Russians preventing anyone from going to that region. At least they did not blow up the Buddhas, which I shall now never see.
Pomegranate seeds, dried and with a really sour flavour, are used as an acidulant in curries.
Butterfish. A slippery, shimmering, silver seafish with rich, soft white flesh. It is found off the Atlantic coast of the United States, where these were caught. It is good grilled or fried and may be smoked. Fish for market weighs up to 200 g (7 oz). It is also a type of sea bream found in South East Asia.
Ray’s bream. A type of sea bream or porgy. Confusingly, in the US this is known as pomfret which, in the UK, is a quite different fish.
The pompano is a small, plump, oily marine fish with a yellow to greenish-blue back. It has a deeply forked tail. It is fished in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and off the south east of North America. Frequently cooked en papillote, it has white, firm, well-flavoured flesh.
A dark rosy pink variety of indeterminate beefsteak tomato, weighing around 250 g (8¾ oz) and with ribbed, flattened fruits. They are juicy and have few seeds. Good for slicing. It received the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit in 2003.
