Pomegranates, the easy Nigella way

[Chufi]

I´ve seen some discussions recently on how to get the seeds from a pomegranate, all intructions seem needlessly complicated to me. I thought about this yesterday as I was making my salad with feta and pomegranate seeds. I saw Nigella Lawson use this method on one of her shows a couple of years ago, it´s easy and fast!

Slice your pomegranate in half

Hold the half cut side down over a large bowl

Use the side of a wooden spoon and tap hard on the outside of the pomegranate. The first few taps nothing happens but then the seeds get dislodged and voila, a bowl full of seeds and an empty shell!

Edited October 10, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[viva]

Seriously! I've got to try this so I can relieve my red-stained fingers from the duty of breaking up the various pods.

[Dianabanana]

Wow, and timely! I just bought a pomegranate! Thanks, Chufi!

[sparrowgrass]

Looks cool.

I have been cutting mine open and pulling them apart in a big bowl of water. The seeds sink, the chaff floats, and no red fingers.

[Poffertjes]

Saw that a while ago on Nigella's show, back when it was on the style network.

Works great. Takes a bit, but your fingers will thank you.

[Smithy]

I happen to have 3 or 4 pomegranates presently waiting to be seeded. I'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison with Nigella's method, which I'd never seen before, and my favorite method to date. Thanks, Chufi!

[TongoRad]

I was recently told this secret method by a coworker who is from India and says that is how it is done over there, and that you can get fresh pomegranate juice made on the spot. Man- that sounds good. I gotta get a juicer.

I wonder if it'll taste as good if you don't have to work too hard for it...

[Smithy]

Wow. I've had 4 pomegranates tucked away for experimentation, and I just did a side-by-side comparison of methods.

I did 2 using my previous favorite method, noted above. I did 2 using the Nigella easy way. Nigella's method wins, hands-down: it's easier, quicker, less messy AND has less pulp and skin to separate from the seeds afterward.

I did find that I needed to evert the pomegranate halves to get the last few delicious seeds out. (Perhaps that means I didn't whack hard enough or long enough or with a heavy enough implement, but since I'd forgotten that I was supposed to use a heavy wooden spoon and was whacking with the flat of my Santuko blade instead, my lack of verve might be forgiven.) However, I also found that it was pretty easy. By the time most of the seeds were out of the pomegranate half I was working over, the pulp was soft enough to turn inside out without tearing anything.

Thank you for that note, Chufi!

[laurelm]

Wow! I am trying this tonight, I just bought pomegranates, thank you!

[Jmahl]

Just tried your method. IT WORKS.

Thanks,

Jmahl

[Mikeb19]

Another cool trick. If you want to juice a pomegranate, just slice it in half, grab a lemon juicing tool, and juice the pomegranate the same you would a lemon. Strain the juice (a few little bits might get in there), and voilà!

[KristiB50]

Thanks this will be great help!!

My coworker has a couple of prolific pomegranate trees and she always brings me several grocery bags of them at a time becaue I once mentioned I like them.

I think I know about every pom recipe out there.

Edited October 15, 2007 by KristiB50 (log)

[Toliver]

My coworker has a couple of prolific pomegranate trees and she always brings me several grocery bags of them at a time becaue I once mentioned I like them.

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With that many pomegranates, have you tried making a pomegranate reduction/syrup? There are a lot of uses for that, too.

[KristiB50]

My coworker has a couple of prolific pomegranate trees and she always brings me several grocery bags of them at a time becaue I once mentioned I like them.

←

With that many pomegranates, have you tried making a pomegranate reduction/syrup? There are a lot of uses for that, too.

←

Yes I have!

Question: do the seeds freeze well? I meant to try it last year and didn't gt around to it.

Edited October 16, 2007 by KristiB50 (log)

[lperry]

Bumping the topic to say thank you for this tip! I had a pomegranate and a vague memory of reading this thread, and a quick search made quick work of seeding it. Thanks!

[Kim Shook]

This show was just rerun on FN yesterday and I have a pomegranate and was wondering if it really worked! How serendipitous! Thanks, Klary!