Cooking With Kandahar Pomegranates

Kandahar's pomegranates — anar in Dari and Pashto — are prized far beyond the province, and in the kitchen they turn up as juice, as jewel-like seeds, and as a dried souring spice.

Anar in the Kandahari kitchen

Kandahar is Afghanistan's most famous pomegranate region, and locals treat the fruit as both snack and ingredient. The best-known eating varieties are sweet and deep red, and much of the crop is simply cracked open and eaten by hand, seed by seed. But the fruit also earns its place in cooked dishes, in cold-pressed juice, and in a dried form used the way other cuisines use lemon or vinegar. For background on the fruit itself, see our pages on pomegranate varieties and the harvest season.

Fresh juice — anar sharbat

In autumn, roadside vendors and bazaar stalls press pomegranates to order, often with a heavy hand-lever press, filling a glass with cloudy, ruby juice. It is drunk fresh, sometimes with a pinch of salt to lift the flavour, and is one of the small pleasures of the season. At home the same juice is made by pressing deseeded arils and straining out the pith. Because fresh anar juice oxidises and separates quickly, it is best drunk soon after pressing rather than stored.

Anar dana — the souring spice

Perhaps the most distinctive culinary use is anar dana: pomegranate seeds dried until leathery and tart, then used whole or ground as a souring agent. Where a cook elsewhere might reach for lemon or tamarind, anar dana adds a fruity, sharp note to stews, lentils, chutneys and meat rubs, and to the fillings of some breads and dumplings. It keeps well, which historically made it a useful way to carry the fruit's flavour through the winter. A little goes a long way, so it is added to taste.

Salads and simple dishes

Fresh arils are a natural garnish. Scattered over rice, folded through a chopped salad of tomato, cucumber and onion, or spooned onto yoghurt, they add colour, sweetness and crunch. A very simple seasonal salad might be nothing more than pomegranate seeds, a squeeze of lime or lemon, a little salt and fresh herbs. Because the fruit balances sweet and sour, it pairs well with rich, fatty foods — a handful alongside grilled meat or a plate of pulao cuts through the richness. Pomegranate is also a common item on the sweet tray served with sheen chai.

Sweets and preserves

Beyond fresh use, pomegranate juice can be reduced into a thick, tangy syrup or molasses used to dress dishes and sweets, and the fruit appears in seasonal desserts and drinks. As with any home reduction, exact quantities vary, and we have avoided quoting precise nutritional figures — the fruit is widely described as rich in antioxidants, but specifics differ by variety and source.

Anar dana in the pot

Because anar dana is the least familiar of these uses to outsiders, it is worth describing how it actually behaves in cooking. The dried seeds are tart and slightly resinous, and they release their sourness slowly, so they are usually added earlier in a braise than a squeeze of lemon would be. Whole, they soften and burst as a stew simmers, leaving little pockets of fruity acidity; ground to a coarse powder, they disperse evenly and deepen the colour of a sauce. Cooks use them to balance rich lentil dishes, to brighten meat and offal, and to season the filling of stuffed breads and dumplings. Toasting the seeds briefly before grinding sharpens their aroma. Because strength varies from batch to batch, the safe approach is to add a little, taste, and add more — over-souring a dish is hard to reverse.

Buying and deseeding tips

Choose fruit that feels heavy for its size with taut, slightly angular skin — heaviness usually signals juicy arils. Colour ranges from pink to deep crimson depending on variety, so weight is a better guide than shade; the local types differ enough that a pale skin can hide sweet, dark arils. To deseed with less mess, score the skin around the crown and along the ridges, then open the fruit in a bowl of water: the arils sink and the bitter white pith floats, so you can skim it off. Working underwater also spares your clothes from anar's famously stubborn stains. Fresh arils keep a few days chilled and freeze well for later use, spreading them on a tray to freeze loose before bagging so they do not clump.

A note on tradition and health

Pomegranate carries symbolic weight well beyond the plate. It appears in poetry and proverb as an emblem of abundance and beauty, and its deep red arils feature on the celebratory fruit trays of weddings and Eid. In everyday belief the fruit and its juice are regarded as strengthening and good for the blood, a reputation that predates any modern nutritional testing. We have deliberately avoided quoting precise figures for vitamins or antioxidants, because published values differ by variety, ripeness and method, and reliable data specific to Kandahar's fruit is limited. What can be said plainly is that anar is treated as both a pleasure and a tonic, eaten in quantity through the autumn while it is at its cheapest and best.

• Pomegranate harvest seasonWhen and how Kandahar's anar is picked.
• Pomegranate varietiesThe sweet and sour types grown in the province.
• Kandahari pulaoThe rich rice dish pomegranate cuts through.
• Kandahar's agricultureThe orchards behind the fruit.
• Kandahar's bazaarsWhere fresh anar and juice are sold.