One of my neighbors has a pomegranate tree from which she has generously supplied me with more pomegranates than I know what to do with. I love eating pomegranates but often put them aside because I don't feel like repeatedly spraying my kitchen with red juice. Do you have any suggestions?

Red all over,

Pomegranate Lover

Dear Red,

Pomegranates, although messy, are not only delicious but also high in Vitamin C (9.4mg). I, too, used to shirk my duties regarding eating pomegranates because I wasn't interesting in changing my shirt beforehand and washing down the walls afterward. Fortunately, someone came to a potluck at my house once with an entire bowl of pomegranate seeds and explained to me how easy it was to pull the seeds out of a pomegranate. I was in awe that someone would think that bringing an entire bowl of pomegranate seeds was easy. I just thought she was amazingly generous! The trick, she said, is that you must remove the seeds of the pomegranate under water. I have to say that, this trick does indeed work, and I am now happily able to eat as many pomegranates as I want without washing the walls. I actually still change my shirt for the moments that I lose focus and take my hands out of the water as well as that first cut into the pomegranate.

Finding Pomegranates

Here's what you do. It's best if you can find someone with a pomegranate tree who is not able to eat all of their pomegranates (due to aforementioned shirt changing and wall washing deterrents). The split pomegranates are ripe (they split when they're ripe after a rain). Note that the split ones do spoil quickly, so you have to harvest and prep those soon after they split. If the tree doesn't have any split ones, take the ripe unsplit ones. For the rest of us who don't have neighbors with a tree, a trip to the local Farmers' Market will find someone selling ripe pomegranates. Just for fun, note whether the pomegranate farmer is wearing a red shirt to cover up the red splashes of pomegranate juice.

Preparing Pomegranates

To prepare the pomegranates, do change into a shirt that you don't mind splashing some juice on (just in case). Fill up a tub with water. I usually use the plastic base for my salad spinner as it's nice and deep. Then, carefully cut the pomegranate in half. I usually cut it into quarters if I'm being adventurous. Place the halves (or quarters) into the water and proceed to remove the seeds from the pith. Make sure your hands and the fruit remain under water. Toss the pith into the compost. Notice that most of the seeds sink and the little pith pieces float. That's to your advantage. After you have removed all of the pomegranate seeds from the pith, take a slotted spoon or even a small strainer (the kind with a handle) and skim the top of the water for the pithy bits. At the very end, pour the water off (which will also take a bunch of the pithy bits with it) and then dump everything into a strainer. That's it! You're done and ready to eat!

Eating Your Pomegranate

During especially good years, I've been able to store ½ gallon of pomegranate seeds in the refrigerator. Yum! They make an incredible snack after work or play. Just come into the kitchen, open the refrigerator, take out the bucket of seeds, and sit down with a spoon and scoop away, chewing in between spoonfuls, and making happy yum, yum noises. No need to change shirts at this point!

Once you've got your seeds, you could also make pomegranate juice. Just put the pomegranate seeds into your juicer, and then you've got a very yummy juice. Or, you can buy juice from your pomegranate supplier at the Farmers' Market. They typically use a big press to press the entire fruit.

Pomegranate jelly is another option. You do need to juice the pomegranate seeds to get the juice to make the jelly. Have you ever wondered why you don't see much pomegranate jelly? And, if you do, it sometimes cost more than other jams? Now, you know. The preparation effort is pretty huge. If you decide to make jelly, be sure to follow a recipe and add the amount of pectin required. Pomegranate is a very low pectin fruit. Last time I made jelly, it didn't set, so I stuck it back in the pot with another packet of pectin. If all this effort sounds like too much trouble for you, support Village Harvest and buy locally grown and prepared pomegranate jelly from them.

This part of the conversation leads really nicely into quince, another underdog fruit of the season, and one that contains a lot of pectin, but I think I'll wait until next time or so to talk about that.

Yours in Pomegranate Heaven,

B.

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