SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Just seeing the 'Rabbit, pigeon, tripe, polony' thread that I recently started made me recall pomegranates. They were a very occasional treat (Christmas?) when I was a child that I think I've never had since though I assume they are still available. Sticking a pin onto each pip to hold it in place as you put the pip into your mouth was fun though that began to fade as there were so very many pips in each pomegranate! Childhood pleasures!

Pomegranates Wow, Leodian you must have lived in a posh part of East leeds. We hung up our stockings at Christmas and the nearest thing to exotic was a Satsuma or an orange plus a Brazil nut which you could only break open with a hammer and the pieces flew everywhere so there very little to eat if you could find them. Years later we had dates which came in an oblong box (Israel's or Egyptian i think, very messy get out of the box.

I remember eating a thing that looked like a squashed banana it was semi sweet i have asked many times over the years what they could have been. Nobody i have asked seems to know what it was it was like a long pod and dark brown does anyone have any idea what it could have been.

Would it have been carob? Did not know the pods were sold whole. Thought it was just used as a (horrible) substitute for chocolate

Thanks for your reply chemimike i dont know, it had the texture of a dried date but not has sweet, It was the size of a small banana but flat with i think tiny seeds inside.No one seems to know what they were im sure others will have eaten them its a question of finding someone who has.

Hi Tilly,

It does sound very much like the Carob pod which I tasted on Malta a few years ago.

I also remember being given a pomegranate , and shown how to eat it with a pin , along with all my friends, in East Leeds , circa 1955 - so long ago that Max Jaffa was still a pip .
Maybe a box of pomegranates fell off the back of a lorry on its way to Harrogate.

Thanks for your input blackprince it could be Carab two of you have said that, where we got them from disappears with the distance of time. It could have been at the back of the market where we used to go as kids looking for anything we could get our hands on. I dont mean stealing i mean things the stall holders had rejected bruised apples and such.

blackprince wrote: ↑

Mon 21 Dec, 2020 5:38 pm

Hi Tilly,

It does sound very much like the Carob pod which I tasted on Malta a few years ago.

I also remember being given a pomegranate , and shown how to eat it with a pin , along with all my friends, in East Leeds , circa 1955 - so long ago that Max Jaffa was still a pip .
Maybe a box of pomegranates fell off the back of a lorry on its way to Harrogate.

Hi blackprince . Your "so long ago that Max Jaffa was still a pip" resulted in me lots.

Leodian wrote: ↑

Mon 21 Dec, 2020 9:42 pm

blackprince wrote: ↑

Mon 21 Dec, 2020 5:38 pm

Hi Tilly,

It does sound very much like the Carob pod which I tasted on Malta a few years ago.

I also remember being given a pomegranate , and shown how to eat it with a pin , along with all my friends, in East Leeds , circa 1955 - so long ago that Max Jaffa was still a pip .
Maybe a box of pomegranates fell off the back of a lorry on its way to Harrogate.

Hi blackprince . Your "so long ago that Max Jaffa was still a pip" resulted in me lots.

We aim to please! Not much to laugh about these days.
-BP