How to Open a Pomegranate
What’s the best method of dealing with a pomegranate? Those tricky little pomegranate seeds can be hard to get out! Let me help…
Today is the start of a new “How To” series, that is a long time coming.
There are many little kitchen tricks I use on a daily basis, that shorten my cooking time and improve my kitchen experience over all. I’ve been meaning to share these with you in separate posts (to make them easy to find) for two… ahem, maybe three years now.
Sorry. Better late than never, I always say.
I realize many of you are kitchen savants and need no additional instruction from me. You just pop by for weekly dinner ideas.
Yet many of you are new to cooking, and when I tell you the preparation time for a recipe is 10 minutes, it takes you 25. Don’t be frustrated with yourself; we all started that way. Hopefully these weekly tips will help speed up your preparation time and relieve little cooking stresses.
I’ll be discussing everything from chopping to dealing with hard-to-handle produce.
Like today!
Let’s talk about how to open a pomegranate and extract the pomegranate seeds. The actual term for pomegranate seeds is pomegranate arils. So if you want to sound fancy, call them arils.
I’ve seen (and tried) all sorts of methods for opening a pomegranate, from rolling the pomegranate, to beating it with a wooden spoon.
The method of how to cut a pomegranate, that I find to be the best (meaning it yields the most unsquashed/uncut pomegranate seeds, with the fewest splatter stains) is this…
How to Cut a Pomegranate
Cut the pomegranate just through the skin around the entire pomegranate, not all the way to the center. You’ll feel the give when you get through the skin. Cutting all the way to the center just ruins a line of arils.
Repeat in the opposite direction to make 4 equal sections.
Gently pull the sections apart.
One at a time, submerge the pomegranate sections in a deep bowl of water. Rub your thumb over the arils to loosen them.
The arils will sink to the bottom and the white flesh will float, making it easy to skim. Submerging the pomegranate sections in water also eliminates red juice splatter on your clothes.
Scoop off the white debris, drain the pomegranate seeds, and dry on a paper towel.
Store in the refrigerator in an air tight container until ready to serve.
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41 Responses to “How to Open a Pomegranate”
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I was so happy to learn this technique a few years ago. It’s the only way to get the seeds out without making a mess.
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This totally works. It’s how I do it too, after Mom shared this technique with me a couple years ago. I’m looking forward to your new series, Sommer, yay!
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I always make a mess when I cut open a pomegranate. Thanks for the tip!
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I love this tutorial. I am a big fan of POM seeds and they are a pain to get out and I always get red juice everywhere. I am going to save this for the next time I buy one- thanks so much!
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Love this Sommer!
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I love how-to posts! I look forward to pomegranates every fall, but then I buy them and they sit in the fridge for weeks because I’m too lazy to get the seeds out.
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Oh, I love this and I can’t wait to see what you do next! I’m not a big fan of pomegranates. I tried them once this year and found them very sour for too much work. I don’t think it was ripe enough. It’s always good to try something new.
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I hate cutting them, b/c their juices always coat me when I do it. so thank you for this heads up!!
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I’ve used this method before and sometimes I’ll turn the pomegranate upside down (after slicing) and whack the peel gently with a heavy wooden spoon and the little nuggets of joy jump right out. Great new blog redesign as well, congrats!
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I just recently tried this and it really works! We love pomegranates.
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I have never been able to properly cut open a pomegranate. Thanks for the tutorial!
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I love the tip about putting the pomegranate in water!
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Love this post, Sommer.
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I bet you’re right that this results in less spatter and fewer bruised seeds. BUT I kinda like the release of whopping pomegranates with a wooden spoon. In fact, I look forward to it! I wonder what that says about me…
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I also like Pomegranate.
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Pomegranates are so great from savory dishes to sweet and this is such a great tip!
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Seriously genius!!
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Great post Sommer! No more excuses, right? Can’t wait to see your other tips and tricks.
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if you immerse the entire scored pomegranite in the water and break it apart while submerged there is NO splatter whatsoever.
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I love pomegranates! And I love how-to posts. I love how bright your photos are!
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Learning this trick was a game changer for me – love pomegranates!
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this looks amazing!
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Glad to hear you’re doing a “how to” series, Sommer — it’s never too late!
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Such excellent tips, Sommer! My method is very similar, but I’ve never used the nifty bowl of water trick. Thank you. …Pinning!
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How’d you know I always wondered? HA. Great post, my friend!
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I am looking forward to your “how to” series posts!
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I tried this method last year and it worked like a charm!
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Great new series! And good tips!
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Awesome tutorial! I’ve never actually cut a pomegranate myself so this will come in very handy!
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I know I’ve seen this technique before, but I always forget it. Thanks for the reminder!
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Certainly wish I had seen this post ages ago..Can’t even tell you how much time I’ve invested in picking individual pomegranate seeds out! Great trick!
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I totally needed this right now — have two pomegranates sitting in my refrigerator!
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Yep. Thats the best way. Before I knew about the water trick, I would use my fingers. My cuticles would turn green….weird!
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This is what we do and it works great everytime!
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This is the only way to do it without having to re-paint your kitchen ; )
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I only use this trick too, works wonders!
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Thanks!! I needed that! Great info!
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I open these and hand the wedges to the kids. It is a great way to keep their hands busy. Those arils looks so plump and perfect!
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My son is sooooooooooooooo intrigued with this. HE makes me pull it up every time we cut a pomegranate. We’d picked up a brochure in the store, and it got tossed. This post saved the sat!
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