Pomegranate the Sex Fruit

We've always enjoyed pomegranates for their sweet, tart flavor, but now there's a new reason to embrace this robust-looking red fruit. They're being touted as a nutritional powerhouse, and they're popping up in everything from cocktails to body lotion.

A prominent player in aphrodisiac lore, pomegranate was regaled as a culinary symbol of Aphrodite by the ancient Greeks. Some say the forbidden fruit of the Bible was not apple at all, but a pomegranate fruit. In other Western lore, the mythological unicorn was tied to a pomegranate tree. Since the early days of the written word, the promise of the pomegranate has made a lasting impression as a sensual symbol, appearing in poetic works of great authors from Homer to Shakespeare.

In the Orient, pomegranate has been used for generations to treat depression, settle sore stomachs and neutralize internal parasites. According to Chinese lore, this particular fruit, based upon its abundance of seeds, promotes and serves, as a symbol, of prosperity, in the form of an abundant household. Such abundance is measured in the size of the family, based, of course, on procreation. Hence, procreation is brought about through sexual interaction.