Pomegranate Frenzy: How to Peel & Juice Pomegranates.

I don't know about you, but I have a TON of pomegranates right now. My poor little tree went crazy this year and she's weighing herself down with all the fruit she has!

Every year I make jelly, syrup, and maybe one or two things more using the fruit, but this year, since she gave me so much extra, I'm making everything and then some and I wanted to share all my adventures with you!

That being said, let's start with the obvious first step: getting those peels off the pomegranate and freeing up those gorgeous and deliciously tart seeds.

There are a few different ways of doing this, but the way I know best is the one I'll show you today. I find this method allows me to get the most of the fruit/juice out of each pomegranate, but it can also be the most time consuming.

To do this, you will need:

Pomegranates (Duh! ;))

A knife

Two large bowls, one filled 1/3^rd of the way up with water.

A straining spoon/slotted spoon

A trashcan or bag

Some free time and a lot of patience.

Optional (but highly recommended as the juice sometimes splatters and will stain):

An apron or other type of protective clothing

A junky towel, newspaper, tarp, or something of that sort

Gloves

A large mesh strainer/sieve

This is what my work space looks like (I also wear an apron).

Step one (after you washed your pomegranates, of course! I like to wash mine in a mixture of warm water and vinegar):

If you haven't already, fill one of your bowls 1/3^rd of the way up with water.

Around the top of the flower of the pomegranate, you are going to use your knife to cut a square or circle through the rind. Be careful not to cut too deep, you don't want to damage the insides, just release the rind.

Step two:

After your cut has been made, firmly grip the flower and gently begin tugging in one direction (don't just pull up, pull to a side!). You'll need to snap it free of the structuring inside, but that should break very easily. If your rind wasn't cut enough, do a few quick slices in the spots that need it. The whole thing should come up very nicely. If there are any seeds stuck to the top that you removed, go ahead and brush them off into your bowl with water. Discard the top into your trashcan or bag (or trash bowl, whatever you're using).

Step three:

Look at the inside, you'll note the cream colored webbing that runs from the center to the sides. Gently slice into the rind using the webbing as your spot to slice. Again, do not slice too deep, you do not want to puncture the seeds. There is usually 3 to 8 visible webbing areas you'll need to cut depending on the size of the fruit. Technically, you do not need to cut into all of the areas, just 3, at least, but I like to cut them all because it makes it easier.

Step four:

Once you've cut the areas, place your thumbs on opposite sides along the new sections you've created and gently pull back. This should snap all the webbing “cages” around the seeds and free up each section. Do this over your bowl of water as some of the seeds will become loose and fall out.

Step five:

Using your thumb, gently glide it along the base of each seed in the sections. This should knock them loose and they'll fall right into your bowl with water. Repeat this until all seeds have been removed from the rind. Discard the rind and webbing. The seeds will sink and any small bits of rind, webbing, ETC will float.

Step six:

Repeat steps one through five with all your fruit or until your bowl is about 3/4ths full, in that case, proceed to steps seven and eight and then come back to step one. (This can take awhile depending on how many pomegranates you have, so get a movie, TV series, or a book on tape. I had 50 LBS worth of pomegranates and it took me a little over 9 hours to peel them all! Ouch :( )

Step seven:

Using your slotted spoon, go ahead and scoop out all the random pieces of webbing and rind that fell into your bowl (that's why we used a bowl with water! :)). Discard those bits.

Step eight:

Drain your pomegranates from the water and transfer into a clean bowl. You can use either a large mesh strainer and just dump them in or use your slotted spoon and transfer them into the new bowl. I personally like to rinse mine after, so I use the large strainer. (Technically, you don't need a new bowl, but if you're having to keep repeating steps one through five because your bowl keeps filling, a second bowl is needed)

Step nine:

Now you have just the fruit! If that's all you wanted, then yay! You're done! Now, go ahead and sprinkle them on a salad, toss them into some vanilla ice cream, eat them plain, or put them in a glass of water and take pretty pictures!

Okay! On to making those pretty little crystals into juice!

I don't own a juicer, but I do have an awesome blender (okay, it's nothing fancy, but I love it anyway), so I make my juice using it instead. It may be a little messier, but I also find it to be more fun (maybe because I like making messes...)

So, to do things with my method, you will need:

Pomegranates

Blender

Large bowl, pitcher, or something you can put your juice in.

Mesh strainer/sieve

Spoon

Straining spoon/slotted spoon

Optional equipment:

An apron or some sort of protective clothing.

Step one:

Fill your blend ½ to 3/4ths full with your pomegranates. If you have less than that, go ahead and put whatever you have in there.

Side note: If you have less then 1/3^rd of the blender filled, sometimes some of the seeds will go untouched and you will need to break them yourself. I do this by just pressing them against the side of the blender with a spoon.

Step two:

Blend your seeds. I typically do this by pressing the pulse for 20 to 30 seconds and then doing 2 to 3 bursts of pulsing for 5 to 15 seconds until everything has been blended. You don't want to over blend or you'll start grinding up some of the seeds.

Step three:

With your strainer over your bowl (or pitcher, ETC), pour the juice-pulp-seed mixture into it. It will slowly begin draining the juice into the bowl. During this time, go rinse your blender and lid if you have to grind up more pomegranates so you don't start grinding seeds and end up with those in your juice. If not, go wash it anyway so you don't have to deal with it later. :)

 

Step four:

Due to the seeds and pulp, they start to block the strainer and the juice can't get through anymore. Take your spoon and start stirring and mixing it around until all you have left is pulp and seeds. This should take about 2 minutes.

Step five:

Once you only have pulp and seeds left, start pressing them to get any excess juice out and then go ahead and discard. (Alternatively, you could save a few tablespoons for another project I'll be posting soon, just store covered in the fridge.)

Left - Just the seeds and pulp. Right - Pressing for excess juice.

Step six:

Repeat steps one through five until you are out of pomegranates.

 

Step seven:

Taking your slotted spoon, go ahead and skim off the foam. Discard.

Step eight:

Now, if you're just making jelly or syrup, then your juice is all set. However, if you want to drink it (and don't like pulp/sediment in your juice) or if you don't want any pulp in your juice for jelly, syrup, or anything else, then you will need to run it through a strainer 2 or 3 more times, with one time being through something finer, like cheese cloth. I recommend first letting everything settle for a few hours, the pulp/sediment and juice will separate from each other.

Juice in varying states of settling.

That's it!

Next post and I'll do will be on making Pomegranate jelly, syrup, and molasses!

Take care until then! :)