How to Peel a Pomegranate
If you have ever wondered how to peel a pomegranate, follow my guide and you’ll become an expert.
The pomegranate is a glorious fruit, with health benefits and one most of us don’t eat enough of.
I think part of the reason people don’t eat more pomegranate is because it can be hard to peel.
One of the world’s oldest fruits, pomegranates originated in the area between Iran and India.
Pomegranates have been a symbol of life and fertility mainly because of all the seeds.
In Buddhism pomegranates are one of three holy blessed fruits.
The Koran mentions that the pomegranate is one of the good things created by God.
The word pomegranate originated from medieval Latin where it was referred to as pomum granatum which means “apple with many seeds”.
Some of my favorite memories are drinking freshly squeezed pomegranate juice in the old city of Jerusalem.
Walking through the alleyways of old Arab Jerusalem stopping for Middle Eastern sweets.
Picking up freshly baked Jerusalem ka’ak, pickles and spices, and heading home on the bus.
They are memories from long ago, and yet I can still taste the pomegranate juice like it was yesterday.
Pomegranate juice is an incredible drink, top to bottom, with tons of health benefits.
There are many stories, symbolic meanings, and good proverbs surrounding the pomegranate.
My favorite is the following quote of an Ancient Egyptian proverb:
Eat a pomegranate and visit a bath; your youth will haste back.
Both those things sound so wonderful and uplifting, and if they bring back my youth, I’m all for them!
I am going to follow this sage advice and see what happens; I’ll keep you informed!
How to Pick a Great Quality Pomegranate
Color is unlikely to be a good indicator of ripeness because pomegranates come in shades of red, pink and yellow.
The sure fire way is to look for a heavy pomegranate, with a tight and firm skin.
They should feel heavy for their size, solid and without any soft spots for a sign of juicy seeds inside.
To keep your pomegranates fresh just put them in the fridge where they will keep for several weeks.
Once you have deseeded the pomegranate they will last three to five days in an airtight container.
How to Peel a Pomegranate
Most probably one of the most common barriers for people when it comes to eating them is how to peel them.
I think many more people would eat this lovely fruit, and more often if peeling it was easy.
Good news, it is really easy once you are shown how, so don’t despair.
There are a couple of methods to deseed a pomegranate, and I will show you my favorite.
Using a very sharp paring knife cut around the top of the pomegranate, and remove the top.
You will see that the seeds are bunched up in sections inside the skin.
Using your knife make slits down the sides along each section divider.
Peel back each cut side to reveal the pomegranate sections.
From here you can brush the pomegranate arils out or bang the skin side with a wooden spoon.
Tips for Removing Pomegranate Seeds
You can brush and scoop with a spoon to remove the seeds.
Or you can push the center of the skin side to push out the inside which will help dislodge the seeds.
Also banging the skin side with a wooden spoon will allow the seeds to drop out.
An added option is to deseed the pomegranate into a bowl of water.
That way the seeds will sink to the bottom, and the white membranes will float to the top.
How to Eat a Pomegranate
For a very healthy treat eat pomegranates, let the juice burst into your mouth.
Eating the arils whole is the best way to enjoy pomegranates, just eat them by the spoonful.
You can either swallow the seeds inside (great roughage!) or spit them out (no roughage!).
The skin and white membrane are very bitter so better to avoid.
Although some people say that the skin possesses medicinal qualities.
Or you can also juice your pomegranate for the most wonderful tasting juice.
An effective way to do this is to put the pomegranate seeds in a blender.
Puls a few times to allow the juice out of the arils, and strain into a glass, pressing the seeds as you do.
If you do not have a blender another method is to put the seeds in a ziplock bag.
Using a rolling pin roll back and forth until you have released as much juice as possible.
Strain into a container while pressing on the seeds to release any excess juice.
What Recipes to Use Pomegranate In
Pomegranates are usually sprinkled onto foods, more as a garnish than to part of the dish.
But there are several dishes that use pomegranate seeds as an integral ingredient.
I like recipes like, avocado cups with pomegranate salsa veda, and lamb shanks with pomegranate and walnuts.
A couple of others you should try are, a goats cheese, tomato, and pomegranate salad, and cilantro rice with pomegranate.
Fruit salad with pomegranate included in it will make it fit for a king.
Another option is to use pomegranate molasses in your cooking for that wonderful pomegranate taste.
