Pomegranate vs barberry

Two Iranian sour materials, one of which is a tanning agent and the other a table fruit, and both graded almost entirely on colour.

botanical

What is being compared

Aspect	Pomegranate	Barberry
What it is	The dried peel of the pomegranate, a by-product of juice production.	A tiny whole dried berry from South Khorasan.
Flavour	Overwhelmingly tannic with a dry fruit note behind it.	Sharply sour with a bitter edge, closer to cranberry.
Astringency	The most astringent material in this catalogue; it was a tanning stuff.	Present but far lower; the sourness dominates.
Drying	Peel dries easily and darkens with age.	Shade-dried, because sun drying blackens it and destroys the colour.
Where it belongs	Iranian and Indian infusions; the juice and molasses tradition is far larger.	Scattered over zereshk polo, made into syrup, brewed as a sharp red drink.
Buying	Peel with little pith attached; old peel is very dark.	Bright red berries; dull dark ones are sun-dried or old.
The expectation problem	People expect the juice’s sweetness and meet a tanning material.	People expect a cherry and meet something far sharper.

Barberry is the drinkable one. Pomegranate peel is for someone who actively likes tannin, and is a long way from what the name promises.

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