Cracking the Pomegranate: There Will Be Juice

The pomegranate: the seeds are edible, the red and white flesh is not, and many philosophers believe it was actually the forbidden fruit.***

Maybe I am a bit behind the times, but I didn't learn how to properly cut one of these until last year.  This may be old news to some, but for those of us still naive on pomegranates, I thought I'd do a quick post to demystify how to peel and eat such an interesting fruit.

For background and general knowledge on poms, I'll save words and direct you first to Mollie Katzen's wonderfully written article on poms, and second to wikipedia.  Mollie teaches a great way to, in her words, "excavate the seeds," and according to the internet's foremost encyclopedia, there are many different ways to harvest the tender seeds (also  called "arils") from a pom.

The way I learned was simple:

1. Slice off the upper 1/3 of the pom.

2. As you can see, the tops form a wedge or "wagon wheel" pattern.  Score along white lines, through the flesh, all the way down to the last 1/3 and break open (do this over a towel, a lot of juice comes out!).

3. Gently remove the arils over a bowl filled with water.  The water helps separate the white membranes and the arils, as the seeds float to the bottom and the inedible white membrane floats to the top. Be sure to scoop these out and discard before draining the water.

4. Enjoy! You can eat the arils as-is for a tasty snack or enjoy them on a plethora of dishes--I've eaten it sprinkled over desserts like ice cream and pie, on main dishes like salads, or mixed in sides like fruit salad.  I've been toying with the idea of putting them on my next pulled-pork sandwich, to see if I could get a great "sweet and savory" mix.

Regarding freezing--if you want to save pomegranates for later, according to Mollie's article, it's best to cover and save whole poms in the freezer rather than the arils.  Defrost each pomegranate in the fridge when you're ready, and go through the unpacking process like described above.

As you can see by the above photo, I let my pomegranate sit out so as to drain/dry off a bit before putting away in the fridge for later.  There have been times, in my weaker moments, where I have simply poured them into a bowl, grabbed a spoon, and went to town.  This certainly isn't bad for my health (one pom is about 105 calories and provides 16% of my daily vitamin C intake), but it is a bit indulgent, non?

The enigma of the pomegranate is solved--this exotic and humble fruit can be tamed by you in under 15 minutes!




***Poms as the forbidden fruit is a small bit of trivia I remembered from college.  I wasn't sure if it were true or not, so a quick google search brought me to wikipedia again. Apparently, more philosophers/countries/heads of state believe the original forbidden fruit to be the grape, the fig, or the quince. Do with that what you will.