Not all salads revolve around lettuce and the Avocado, Grapefruit, and Pomegranate Salad from Pepper at Frugal Cuisine is a perfect example of this fact. The salad is very simple - only one grapefruit avocado, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of extra grapefruit juice - but very elegant. Coincidentally, the red and green colors of the salad and the jewel-like look of the pomegranate seeds make this an incredibly festive dish and ideal for the holidays, especially if you live in California or somewhere it is easy to get avocados year-round.

The creamy avocados balance out the sharp flavor of the grapefruit, while the pomegranate seeds add a much needed crunch. A sweet grapefruit will work best here, so if yours is very bitter, you might want to use half of an orange to round out the flavors of the salad.

This salad would work well served on its own, but could also be used as a sort of relish for fish or chicken if you diced up everything into small pieces.

We already know that pomegranates are antioxidant powerhouses, with the ability to improve cardiovascular health, help arthritis, and fight those darned free radicals that are loitering around your body. However, a new study out of Israel suggests that pomegranate juice, though highly concentrated with sugar, could benefit diabetics.

The findings showed that pomegranate juice had no effect on blood sugar levels (i.e. did not increase it). However, it did reduce levels of other compounds that affect cardiovascular health. Consistently high glucose levels intensify the hardening of blood vessels. This is called atherosclerosis, and leads to cardiovascular disease and stroke. According to lead researcher Professor Michael Aviram, "In most juices, sugars are present in free – and harmful – forms. In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis."

Quiz question: What fruit is known as an antioxidant powerhouse?

Did you say pomegranate? You're right! Did you say blueberry? You're also right!

Both the pomegranate and the blueberry are well-known for their antioxidant content, making them super-duper disease-fighting foods. Each fruit on its own is powerful, but combine the two in a juice, and not only do you get the benefits of both, you also get a might tasty juice.

The San Francisco Chronicle tasted nine Pomegranate Blueberry juices available in local grocery stores, and picked Naked as their "runaway favorite" for "Good fruit aroma and balance of flavors," "smells like blueberries, tastes good but not too sweet," and "rich, thick texture." The juice scored 82 out of a possible 100 points with the panel.

The other juices they tasted and their corresponding scores were: Pom Wonderful (73), Trader Joe's (69), Whole Foods 365 (51),Trader Joe's blend (49), R.W. Knudsen (48), Fruttzo (41), TrueBlue (17), and Langers (5).

Proclaimed as the world's first pomegranate liqueur Pama is now available in the UK.

It cashes in of course with the new found popularity of the pomegranate - a super food. Pama is made with 100% pomegranate juice concentrate, premium vodka and tequila. It has been described as having an 'exquisite sweet tart flavour'. It is intended as a base for cocktails and the website handily provides a few recipes. You could try the Champagne Dream (mixed with orange liqueur, fresh orange and champagne) or how about the Peacock (more vodka and orange liqueur).

Pama retails for around £20 a bottle in the UK.

Attention everyone who either doesn't drink dairy or simply prefers soy milk: Starbucks is test marketing their new soy-based blended drinks in some California markets right now. Of course, this is good news for me since I live in California, but it shouldn't be a problem to get them at your local Starbucks even before they're released.

From what I can tell, the drinks they're offering right now are basically the Pomegranate and Tangerine frappuccinos, but instead of being made with tea, they're being made with soy milk. Since this is a simple change, it means that if you ask your neighborhood Starbucks baristas very nicely, they should be able to make one up for you even if you're not in the current test market!

Since I like the Tangerine tea blends, it's no surprise that I also like the Tangerine Soy. I have to go back to taste the Pomegranate, but I hear that it is even better than the Pomegranate tea frappuccino. I still can't wait to try the soy coffee frappuccinos that Starbucks has had in the works for ages now. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see those on the menu boards, too.

Another drink being tested right now was brought to my attention courtesy of some friends in Texas. Apparently, there is an Acai frappuccino at some stores. Acai is the newest "superfood" of the moment, so there is little doubt that this drink will have a few potential health benefits touted if it hits the rest of the country.

Grenadine is the most popular fruit syrup used by bartenders. Unfortunately, the most popular and easy-to-find brand of grenadine, Rose's, has no acutal fruit in it at all. It's high fructose corn syrup with red food coloring in it.

Yum.

Grenadine is actually supposed to be a sweet syrup made from pomegranate juice, which lends it a distinctive color and flavor, though the corn syrup version has become so prevalent, that a straw poll I did revealed that many people believed grenadine was cherry flavored. It can be difficult to find a bottle of the real thing, but the Sonoma's Syrup Co sells an all natural, pomegranate grenadine that I was able to pick up at Williams-Sonoma, despite the fact that it is not listed on their website. The taste is worlds away from the corn syrup stuff and you can feel good about eliminating one more source of high fructose corn syrup in your diet.