Thanks to Utah Deal Diva for this Guest Post
I found pomegranates for only .92 at Walmart today, so I decided to take pictures while I peeled mine and show anyone interested how it’s done. I can’t take all the credit. I owe my method to the infamous Alton Brown from the Food Network. I love him! When picking a pomegranate, I select the largest, heaviest ones I can find. Expect to yield 1 – 1.5 cups of seeds per fruit. My 3 pomegranates yielded 4.5 cups of seeds total.
Peeling a pomegranate isn’t difficult, but it’s a little trickier than peeling most fruit. Inside the pomegranate are tons of small red seeds that are filled with juice. They’re tangy and sweet and those seeds are what we’re ultimately after! Watch out though, they also stain like crazy, so wear an apron!
Step 1: Using a small knife, score the outside of the pomegranate from one end to the other. I make several shallow cuts as it’s easier to peel that way. Don’t cut too deeply into the fruit or you’ll hit the seeds! Peel away the end of the fruit that sticks out- the end that used to have the stem attached. I also slide the knife in a bit deeper into the end here and gently break the pomegranate in half.
Step 2: Place a large bowl in one side of your kitchen sink and fill the bowl with water. You’ll be doing most of the peeling with your hands under the water with the fruit. Being submerged in water helps loosen the seeds from the peel and minimizes spray, should a seed happen to burst. Even still, the sides of my sink were dripping with pink by the time I finished peeling my three pomegranates!
Step 3: Using the lines you scored into the peel as guides, carefully begin to pull the fruit apart. Once it’s in quarters, I begin gently brushing the seeds from the peel. Most will just fall away, but others might be a little stubborn. For those that don’t want to come out, instead of trying to grab the seed, instead, pull the peel away and try to loosen it that way.
You’ll soon notice the seeds fall to the bottom of the bowl, while the white parts of the peel float on top. As you work your way through the fruit, every once in a while, skim the peel pieces away from the surface of the water and discard.
Step 4: Once you’ve sufficiently gotten all the seeds, try and remove all the pieces of peel from the water either with your hand, or with a fine mesh strainer. I use both.
Step 5: Pour the bowl with the seeds through a colander and strain the water out. Gently pour seeds onto paper towels or a cloth and spread them out to dry.
Step 6: Once dry, place the seeds in a tupperware container and lay a folded damp piece of paper towel on top. The seeds will stay fresh in your fridge for up to 2 months this way!
Step 7: Eat them! Here are a few ideas on how to eat pomegranate seeds: Top yogurt, add them to oatmeal, toss them in a salad, top frosted cupcakes, add them to fruit salad, jell-o, etc. Here are a few recipes I thought looked good as well:
Spinach Pomegranate Salad
Spiced Pears & Pomegranate
Roasted Pork with Pomegranate Sauce
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