Pomegranate is often reduced to decoration: scatter a few red seeds over a salad and call it finished. That wastes its two most useful qualities in cooking. The seeds give a clean crunch, while the juice offers a sweet acidity that can partly replace vinegar or citrus in sauces.

Sicilia Agrumi also offers Dente di Cavallo in season, a type valued for sweet flavour and relatively tender seeds. Around Solarino, pomegranates arrive as summer begins to give way to autumn. It is one of those fruits that announces the season before the calendar does.

First, open it without repainting the kitchen

Cut a shallow cap from the top, find the white membranes and score the skin along those natural sections. The fruit then opens into wedges and the seeds release with much less force. The more you crush it, the more juice ends up on your hands, apron and wall.

Remove the pale membranes because they are bitter. Once separated, the seeds can be kept briefly in the refrigerator in a closed container. Doing this ahead makes it much more likely that you will actually use them during the week.

1. Pomegranate, orange and fennel salad

Thinly sliced fennel, orange segments, pomegranate seeds, olives and extra-virgin olive oil need very little else. Orange and pomegranate already provide both sweetness and acidity. Blood orange makes the combination especially striking.

2. Couscous with vegetables and pomegranate

Prepare couscous with roasted or sautéed vegetables and fold in the seeds only at the end. Their job is to interrupt the soft grain with something crisp. Mint or parsley is usually enough seasoning.

3. Pomegranate risotto

A little juice can be added late in cooking, while fresh seeds belong on the finished plate. A creamy cheese helps balance the acidity. Use the juice with restraint: the dish should remain a risotto, not turn into a sweet fruit sauce.

4. Ricotta toast with pomegranate and citrus honey

Toast, ricotta, pomegranate seeds and a thin thread of citrus-blossom honey make a five-minute snack that tastes much more considered than it sounds. Creamy, tart, sweet and crisp all arrive in one bite.

5. Chicken with a pomegranate reduction

Reduce pomegranate juice gently with a little shallot and use it to glaze white meat. Add fresh seeds at the end. Keep the sauce bright and tart; excessive sweetness removes the part that makes it interesting.

6. Fish with citrus and pomegranate

For grilled or baked fish, combine orange, lemon, olive oil and pomegranate in a fresh dressing. It works best on simple preparations where the condiment can bring freshness instead of competing with a heavy sauce.

7. Yogurt, almonds and pomegranate

This barely needs a recipe, which is why it is so useful. Plain yogurt, seeds, almonds and a little honey make an easy breakfast or dessert. Add the seeds at the last moment to keep their snap.

8. Custard tart with fresh pomegranate

Bake the tart and custard first, then add pomegranate when everything is cold. Heating the seeds dulls their bright appearance and can make tannic notes more obvious; fresh seeds keep the dessert lighter.

9. Autumn rice salad

Rice, roasted squash, herbs, nuts and pomegranate make a useful cool-weather alternative to summer rice salads. Prepare everything in advance but hold back the seeds until serving.

10. Pomegranate and orange spritz without alcohol

Mix pomegranate and orange juice with sparkling water and ice. Finish with lemon peel. If the fruit is naturally sweet, extra sugar is rarely necessary; a tart batch can be softened with a little honey.

Pomegranate or melagrana? A small Italian-language curiosity

In Italian both melograno and melagrana are widely used for the fruit. Traditionally melograno names the tree and melagrana the fruit, although everyday speech often uses melograno for both. Fortunately, the vocabulary has no effect on the recipe.

When in season, look for Sicilian pomegranates in the shop. Size and skin colour naturally vary with cultivar, weather and harvest stage, so they should not be judged like factory-made objects.