Thats what "pomegranates" loosely translated from Latin means...
I've recently discovered pomegranates and treasure their rich flavor and healthful benefits. For me, pomegranate arils (arils are the seeds) pack more flavor and punch than most other small bite sized fruits and are hence, perfect for putting them on a salad. Pomegranates are growing in popularity, especially in the fall/winter (when you can find them in Cincinnati). I'd wager that the pomegranate will replace the cranberry as the thing to have next to your turkey in the next few years. A perfect combination of sweet and tart (and darned good for you, too - according to my resources one pomegranate = 105 calories, 25 gr carbs, 0.5 gr fat, 1.5 gr protein, 1 gr fiber)
Food fact - the word "grenade" originated from the french name for pomegranate (as soon we'll see),
la grenade.
This is all good and fine until most people get to buying and trying to get the arils out of the pomegranates - thats when the frustration sets in and people go back to boring cranberries for their salads...
Let's change that, ok?
So, pick out a nice fresh pomegranate. Look for fruits that are brightly colored and have few marks/blemishes. Should be heavy for its size and almost have a metallic sound when you tap on it. Costco has a flat of 6 humongous fruits for 12 bucks (a good deal when The Fresh Market charges 4 bucks per fruit), Kroger's are usually 1.99 per fruit...
Get yourself a large bowl and fill it half way with water.
Cut the stem end off and the bottom off -
warning: the juice stains - dont wear your Sunday best! Score the tough skin with a knife - dont try to go all the way through (though at times I just cut it in half - you'll cut through a few arils in the process but it's quicker).
If you do cut it in half (like I did in the pic) you can see all the compartments that the arils are in... If you took your time and scored it, now place the fruit under the water and open it up with your hands.
See why it's called la grenade in French?
Place the opened fruit UNDER the water and gently nudge the arils off the waxy coating with your fingers. This will prevent them from breaking exploding their
juicy goodness all over the place (you'll have a couple of casualties -
dont worry, as long as your under the water, the juice wont stain you).
The other thing about working in the water is that 'cause they have seeds in them, the arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the other pithy stuff floats.
Clean up is so much easier!
After you have all your seeds out, skim off the white pithy waxy stuff and pour off the water. I
usually pick through the seeds at this point - any slightly brown ones I throw out, if they made it past the initial quality control above.
Place on paper towels to dry.
(these are the arils from 2 Costco fruits!)
Then tag and bag them. They keep in the fridge for about 1 month - if they last that long!
(currently experimenting with freezing them...)
I love putting them on my salad and my cereal (
Kashi GoLean) - I even put them in my pancakes (actually pretty good...)
The possibilities are nearly endless - one could top chicken or pork with them - put em in yogurt... Put a bunch of arils in the blender and strain out the juice for your own fresh pomegranate juice.
Once you have the juice, you could also make pomegranate molasses and syrup -
it's phenomenal over vanilla ice cream...
Take 4 cups of pomegranate juice
one tablespoon of lemon juice
half a cup of sugar
Place in saucepan over medium heat.
(use bottled juice here, otherwise you'll be scraping out seeds til the cows come home to get enough for 4 cups of juice).
Stir occasionally.
And when the sugar has thoroughly dissolved, drop the heat to medium-low and cook until the mixture reduces to 1 1/2 cups (about 1 hr)
Cool for 45 minutes and transfer to a jar.
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