Happy Halloween: My First Reader Giveaway!

Not really in the spirit of Halloween, but maybe in the spirit of Pomegranate season, I am giving away one jar of my POM Pomegranate Jelly and one jar of my homemade Muesli to one lucky commenter!

I recently won an online blog giveaway from Loop Yarn Shop, and I was so excited - so I hope I can pass on the joy of winning to someone else! I really enjoy pomegranates, I think since about the 7th grade when we learned this story from Ms. Colburn when we were studying Greek and Roman Mythology in English class: I have pasted it here from Wikipedia...

The myth of Persephone, the chthonic goddess of the Underworld, also prominently features the pomegranate. In one version of Greek mythology, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken off to live in the underworld as his wife. Her mother, Demeter (goddess of the Harvest), went into mourning for her lost daughter and thus all green things ceased to grow. Zeus, the highest ranking of the Greek gods, could not leave the Earth to die, so he commanded Hades to return Persephone. It was the rule of the Fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone had no food, but Hades tricked her into eating four pomegranate seeds while she was still his prisoner and so, because of this, she was condemned to spend four months in the Underworld every year. During these four months, when Persephone is sitting on the throne of the Underworld next to her husband Hades, her mother Demeter mourns and no longer gives fertility to the earth. This became an ancient Greek explanation for the seasons. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting Persephona depicts Persephone holding the fatal fruit. It should be noted that the number of seeds that Persephone ate varies, depending on which version of the story is told. The number of seeds she is said to have eaten ranges from three to seven, which accounts for just one barren season if it is just three or four seeds, or two barren seasons (half the year) if she ate six or seven seeds. There is no set number.

I recall that she ate 4 seeds, and that is why we have roughly 4 months of winter - but I suspect that the myth changes with each geographical zone according to the cold times...

At any rate, I have been enjoying my POM Jelly for breakfasts this week stirred into my homemade yogurt. I use this yogurt culture:

Photo from Amazon

which is widely available online and in health food stores. I think it has a very tart edge, but I tend to prefer things tart. I've also taken to adding 5 T. of dried milk to each quart of yogurt I make, and it becomes nicely thickened. The best thing about the dried culture is that it is pantry stable, and always there when I need it. I did splurge on a carton of Fage to use as culture, and it did have that amazing Fage taste. But that was before I was adding the dried milk, so I will need to try this again for the true Greek Yogurt experience.

Strangely, when I add a T. or so of the POM Jelly, the yogurt seems less tart. Little lumps of ruby jelly explode in my mouth, and make me one very happy breakfaster. Then, I decided later in the week to mix in my homemade muesli, or rather Pukkolla, since I snagged the proportions from Jamie Oliver's cookbook. This time, my version includes walnuts and hazelnuts. I love this soaked in milk overnight, but find that if I mix it in last minute to the yogurt/POM Jelly concoction, the yogurt tenderizes the oats nicely. Addiction has set in, or dare I say Obsession.

I will be selecting one comment via a random number generator on November 10th, so be sure to leave a comment before midnight on November 9th on this post.

Good Luck! Meanwhile, you can bet that most of my breakfasts between now and then will include the above. I hope my winner will be as excited as I am about this jelly, and enjoy many breakfasts on me!