Hey, There's a Pomegranate in My Fruit Gift Basket!

Since Pomegranates are in season right now, they've been showing up in a lot of our fresh seasonal fruit gift baskets. Pomegranates are so delicious, full of health benefits and, I think, are a really fun snack. Just last night with a mouth full of seeds I told my husband, "Man, I could just eat these Pomegranate seeds like popcorn!" He said, "Really? Like popcorn?" After I ate my way through one and a half Pomegranates worth of seeds, I think he started to concede.

I've been eating Pomegranates since I was a kid, but honestly, it was always a messy task for me. I would take a wedge of it outside into the grass, bend over slightly and eat it like a watermelon. I don't know why, but I actually never knew it was ok to eat the seeds! My youngest daughter taught me to eat the seeds and all. But...it was still so messy! How do I get all of those delicious Pomegranate seeds out of the fruit without getting red juice everywhere or chewing on pith or the hard skin?

I've since found a few different techniques for getting the seeds out of the Pomegranate, but this one is my favorite so far...





I do it a little bit differently from the video, in that I don't cut the Pomegranate in half, but instead score around it (all the way around from crown to bottom to crown again, on two sides) about 1/4 inch deep, just through the skin, and break it open under water into four wedges. Then "invert" the wedges and push the seeds out with your fingers. With this technique I can de-seed three Pomegranates in a matter of 5 minutes.

I like this technique because a.) you don't cut all the way through the pomegranate thereby not getting red juice on yourself or the cutting board; b.) no juice goes squirting everywhere when the seeds pop out; and c.) the seeds easily separate from the pith which is discarded.

Now, I have a bowl of fresh Pomegranate seeds waiting for me in the refrigerator anytime I want! I've even been packing a handful of seeds for my girls' school lunches. They love it!

Here is another technique which involves smacking the Pomegranate with a wooden spoon; but with this one I still get red juice squirted on my hands and on the countertop, so you decide which one works best for you...




Do you have a different technique that you use to remove the seeds from a Pomegranate? Let me know what you have tried and what works best for you. And enjoy those Pomegranates!!