People have worked with pomegranate as a dye for thousands of years, using the fruit to create ceremonial and celebratory fabrics from ancient Mesopotamia to Mughal India. The fruit has also been a sign of fertility and prosperity in China and Japan, where it was used to dye textiles for special occasions.

To make the dye, the rind of the fruit is dried and boiled to release its colour. The result is a range of colours from yellows to browns, with the exact shade depending on the type of fabric and the various mordants used with the pomegranate dye.

Pomegranate rinds are normally thrown away when someone is finished with the fruit, so turning them into a dye helps to cut down on waste.