Anardana

Anardana is made from the juicy red arils that surround the seeds inside the pomegranate fruit, a round, leathery-skinned fruit about the size of a large orange, borne on a shrubby deciduous tree growing 3 to 6 metres tall. When the arils are dried, they shrink into dark reddish-brown to almost black, sticky, wrinkled grains, each still containing a small, hard seed.

The flavour is sharp, tart and fruity with sweet undertones, much like tamarind or dried mango powder, and the chewy texture contrasts with the crunchy seed. Anardana is sold whole, ground into a powder, pressed into cakes and sold as a seasoning, and often comes from tart wild or semi-wild pomegranates grown in the Himalayan foothills.

The pomegranate tree is native to the region from Iran across to northern India, and it has been cultivated since ancient times throughout the Mediterranean, the Middle East and South Asia. The wild, sour pomegranates of the Himalayas supply much of the fruit dried for anardana.

The word anardana comes from Persian, with anar meaning pomegranate and dana meaning seed or grain, and has been absorbed into Hindi, Urdu and other languages. The name pomegranate in English comes from Latin for seeded apple, pomum granatum.

The pomegranate is among the oldest cultivated fruits, featuring in Persian, Greek, Indian and biblical traditions as a symbol of fertility and abundance. Drying the arils was a way to preserve the fruit and its acidity, and dried pomegranate seed became a cherished souring agent across Iran, Central Asia and northern India, in regions where lemons and tamarind were scarce or expensive.

Under Persian cultural influence, and later through Mughal cuisine, sour pomegranate seeds became a mainstay of North Indian cooking. Anardana appears in recipes for chana masala, chaat masala, chutneys and meat dishes, and in Himalayan regions such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kashmir, wild pomegranates are harvested from trees growing in the hills and dried in the sun to make anardana, providing income for rural families.

Today anardana is a pantry staple in South Asian kitchens, and it is exported to diaspora communities and to chefs interested in sour flavours beyond lemon and vinegar. Demand for pomegranate products in general has risen in the past few decades, although most anardana is still made by small producers.

Whole seeds are soaked or ground and added to chana masala, dal, chutneys, stuffings for flatbreads and samosas, and spice mixes like chaat masala. The sour taste balances rich meat and lentil dishes and lends brightness to vegetables and stews. It is also mixed into drinks and pressed into digestive tablets in South Asia.

In traditional medicine, it has been used for digestive and thirst-quenching remedies, and the whole fruit, rind and flowers are used in other traditional preparations. Cooks often dry-roast the seeds first and then grind them, which gives a nuttier, more rounded sourness in chutneys and spice powders.

Pomegranate seeds and arils are rich in polyphenols such as punicalagins and anthocyanins, and dried arils retain fibre and organic acids. Studies of pomegranate juice and extracts suggest possible effects on blood pressure and oxidative stress, but evidence for dried seed spice specifically is limited. As a seasoning used in small amounts, anardana contributes flavour and some phytochemicals rather than major nutritional value.