One of my earliest memories is that of using money my grandmother had given me to buy candy to buy a pomegranate instead. Oh, I loved them. I loved the fact that we kids had to dress up special in our worst clothes in order to eat them. We had to eat them outside, too (it’s still pretty warm in November in Los Angeles where we lived when I was a kid), and spit the seeds out into the shrubbery. Messy, juicy, sweet food that involves sanctioned spitting? We were in heaven.

Now we have our own pomegranate tree and we get to hang out in pom heaven come every November. (No more seed spitting, we grown-ups eat them whole.) Here’s the thing to know about pomegranates (other than the juice stains) – just because the fruit is red doesn’t mean that the seeds inside are ripe. We don’t pick our pomegranates until they begin to burst at the seams. This usually happens a few days after a rain. The seeds absorb the moisture and the skin cannot contain them anymore. Once the skin has cracked to reveal the seeds the pomegranates must be picked immediately, and used up quickly, or they will get moldy.

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