How to juice a pomegranet

Our local produce co-op delivered pomegranates and I couldn’t wait to make use of their nutrient rich juice! Pomegranate juice makes for a wonderful addition to many sauces, smoothies, and treats. I froze small cubes of the juice to add to sauces and smoothies and then saved some to sweeten the applesauce I recently made.

The problem with pomegranates is how much work it takes to get at that yummy cocktail mixer juice…. You can cut them open and submerge the fruit in a bowl of water while you gently dig out each seed. This will allow the seeds to drop to the bottom of the bowl and the inner white flesh to float. Scoop all of the floating parts away and you are left with the juice filled seeds. I have juiced these seeds with our juicer previously, but that is a lot of work and clean up for a smallish amount of juice.

A more effective way to juice is to use a hand juicer. Make sure to wear an apron because pomegranate juice will burst out of the seeds and get onto it’s surroundings. If you aren’t careful it could look like a scene from Dexter….

 If you want to avoid loosing some juice, don’t cut the pomegranate in half. Instead, skore the radius of the pomegranate as pictured above. Then use your knife as a wedge and pry open the fruit with your hand. Juice the fruit by mashing downward and twisting a bit. You won’t twist to juice it like an orange because you are attempting to burst all the little skins of the seeds. I like to take a spoon and mash any whole seeds left in the juicer with a spoon as pictured.

Enjoy! You’ve earned it!