Pomegranates, alien superfruit, have a long culinary history, with rich religious symbolism. Truly odd, the only edible part of the fruit is the arils, translucent casings around the fruit's seed and juice, of which nearly a thousand are packed into the orb's waxy white flesh. The arils are slightly sweet and provide a satisfying crunch and lusty flavor. The juice, which ranges from sweet to sour depending on the tannin levels, is delicious and highly concentrated.
The seeds make a surprisingly wonderful snack, but are also a great garnish on salads, desserts, and soups, such as Iran's ash-e anar.
When: Pomegranates are best late October through early November, but are generally available from some hemisphere's late summer through early winter.
Selecting pomegranates: Pomegranates are picked ripe, so everything in your market should be ready to eat. The fruit should be heavy for its size, with thin, yet durable skin. The exterior, while it will always have some blemishes, should be deep red, relatively clear, and free of deep pocks. The crown-like top should be intact and free of mold.
Storage: Pomegranates will keep for up to two weeks in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight. In the refrigerator, they will last 1-2 months.
Yield: Each pomegranate has about 800 arils, yielding 3/4 a cup. Those arils in turn provide only about 1/2 a cup of juice.
Pomegranate juice stains, and cutting open the fruit and extracting the arils is nontrivial. The following steps minimize the mess and simplify the stress by working with the fruit submerged in water—no juice explosion, and the seeds conveniently sink while the flesh floats.
To start, cut off the crown end—the crown-like top—of the pomegranate and discard.
Score the rind of the pomegranate vertically, 6-8 cuts, cutting into but not through the pomegranate's flesh.
Fill a bowl with cold water. Place the pomegranate crown-side (cut-side) down in the cold water and let soak for five minutes.
Submerged, break open the pomegranate along the score lines, splitting the flesh into several chunks. Some of the seeds will fall out and sink to the bottom. To remove the remaining seeds, again submerged, further break apart the chunks of flesh, pushing and popping out the stuck seeds. Be gentle as the seeds puncture easy.
The seeds will fall to the bottom of the bowl and the waxy flesh will float to the top. Using a slotted spoon, skim the top of the water and remove the flesh. Drain. Rinse and pick through the seeds, removing any remaining flesh. Dry. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
When you do that in water they lose their taste! easy way but not the right way, try to split it into its natural parts, and take the seeds off by hand in a large bowl (no water). Your hands will not stain, just wash them skin is amazing that way.
ReplyDeleteHi, N. Thank you for the comment.
ReplyDeleteFirst time one of my approaches is described as easy!
I have de-seeded pomegranates out of water before, and I have never noticed a difference in taste. Most of the good notes are in the juice (and the bad notes are in the seed). The aril, while providing texture, I've never noticed to have much of a flavor.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAn even faster way is to split the pomegranate into 2, and beat each half with the end of a rolling pin. It will make almost all(97%) of the seeds fall out. The rest can be easily removed by hand. You will get minimal flesh falling out. This is the technique used by juice vendors in India and I've used it since I first learnt it pretty effectively!
Interesting! I will have to try this approach.
ReplyDeleteOne benefit to the water method demonstrated in this post is that the water shields you and your kitchen from the pomegranate juice, but if you have a suitable work area, beating the fruit with a rolling pin sounds fun.