first pomegranates

I planted the pomegranate tree in August of last year. It grew very slowly the first year and didn't produce a single mature fruit. This year, though, the tree looks much better. There are about 10 small pomegranate fruits. We noticed two had burst open today. The little arils (the tiny seeds with red fleshy covering) were perfectly sweet and juicy. I was curious to see if one of the other fruits was ripe inside so I cut one of the other fruits in half. The arils were a little pale and not as sweet as the ripe ones. We are still learning....

Ripe deep-red arils above with an almost ripe pomegranate fruit below.

This one was almost ripe. The flesh of the tightly packed arils is translucent. You can almost see the little seeds inside.