Highly nutritional packed salad, ideal for cooling yourself in warmer weather. The celery in the salad has a cooling effect 💚 Toss cooked chickpeas, with diced raw celery, red peppers and shallots. Sprinkle over and mix in ground black pepper and herbs, with a little salt.

Best served after storing in the fridge. Ideally served without salad dressing to enjoy the full flavours of the ingredients.

Pomegranates are rich in antioxidants, vitamin C and K. They also significantly contribute towards daily vitamin B, copper and manganese requirements. Various articles report how this ‘divine’ fruit supports your immune system and cardiovascular health. The antioxidants in pomegranates have been shown by research to help the body bring down inflammation, high blood clotting tendencies and reduce high blood pressure and ageing.

As ageing progresses, life can become a bit more difficult as we are less agile and flexible. Ageing is most noticeable on the skin. The skin tends to lose its flexibility and elasticity with advancing age. Pomegranate may bring a ‘beauty secret’ since it has been acclaimed for its beauty enhancing effects. For many years this fruit has been used in beauty treatments applied to the skin. Just drinking pomegranate juice or eating the fruit provides the body with some significant antioxidants that help reduce advanced ageing effects. A range of other health benefits have been associated with this fruit, from improving digestive abilities to enhancing physical and cognitive performance.

Perhaps this delightful fruit is great for exam times and other stressful times, to snack on. Yet let’s go back in time and consider how this fruit has been utilised, appreciating this is one of the most ancient fruits still being eaten. However, the fruit has been domesticated and may look somewhat different to about 8000 years ago.

Ancient Greek and Roman cultures have fabulous tales of this delightful fruit. While being linked to many theological stories and mythologies, pomegranate often symbolizes blessings.

By Anastacia Sampson