How to peel a pomegranate?
Pomegranate is not an apple but a berry. This berry has seeds on the inside that are edible. The sweet and sour taste of these seeds can be used in a green salad, in fruit salads, and for dressings. Pomegranate seeds are also a surprise with ice cream. There are plenty of options. But how to peel a pomegranate and can you clean it?
Make sure the pomegranate is lying properly, with its crown and bottom towards the sides. Now cut the pomegranate in half at the widest part. Now hold the halves of the pomegranate upside down one by one and tap out all the seeds with a wooden spoon, above a bowl.
There are several ways to peel the pomegranate. One finds this useful, the other that.
Below are a number of ways to peel a pomegranate. Try out which way you find the easiest.
Pit pomegranate
To seed a pomegranate, it is useful to prepare some things in advance:
- You wear an apron because the seeds quickly lose their moisture when you squeeze them a little while removing them from the apple. That can be quite splashing. This can cause stains that you can hardly get rid of.
- You need a bowl to collect the seeds.
- You need a sharp knife to cut the hard pomegranate.
how to peel a pomegranate
How does the stoning work:
- When you place the pomegranate on its side, so the top and bottom are to the sides, you cut the apple in half at the widest part. It can also splash now because you cut the seeds (see photo above).
- Pick up one half with your fingers and keep the open side of the pomegranate facing your palm. With your fingertips pointing up, hold your hand over a bowl and tap the top of the pomegranate with a wooden spoon. By holding your hand under the pomegranate, the seeds do not fly randomly through the kitchen. They fall into the bowl through your hand.
- Tap until all pomegranate seeds are out of the pomegranate. When you turn the apple over you can see where all those seeds have been. You cannot eat the white of this pomegranate.
- Now also take the other side of the pomegranate and tap it empty above the dish.
The seeds are ready for processing (or to be eaten).
How to Peel a Pomegranate
There is a trick to peel a pomegranate. This trick is described below. Try it out and see which way you find the easiest and most effective.
- An apron
- Bowl to put the seeds in
- Sharp knife to cut through the hard skin
How does the peeling work:
- Cut a cap off the pomegranate with a sharp knife. Do this at the top. You now see the parts of the pomegranate
- Trace the parts with a sharp knife on the outside of the peel. So cut the skin lightly, from top to bottom (do not cut through).
- Now pull the pomegranate open by means of your thumbs from above, pushing something into the pomegranate, where the cap has been cut off. Now you are peeling the pomegranate.
- Open the pomegranate completely and pull the 3 pieces apart. It can splash and the moisture from the pomegranate can stain.
- Remove some of the white skin so that the seeds are exposed.
- Pick up one piece and tap the seeds of the pomegranate, above a bowl, out of the skin. Do this for all pieces.
- This is the peeling of the pomegranate.
There is one more way to clean the pomegranate. You do this with the use of water.
Pomegranate Cleaning
When you are going to clean a pomegranate underwater, this has the advantage that the juice from the seeds does not splash and your kitchen worktop does not turn red and your clothes or apron gets stained. It is a way of cleaning the pomegranate, see if you like it this way.
To clean a pomegranate in the water you will need:
- A large bowl of water
- A sharp knife
- A dish to put the seeds in
- An apron against stains from the juice of the pomegranate
Peeling by the water method
How does this work:
- Cut the pomegranate into four equal pieces.
- Prepare a large container of water in which you will clean the quarter of the pomegranate.
- Push the seeds out of a piece of pomegranate with your fingers, underwater.
- Do this carefully because when you push too hard, you push all the moisture out of the seeds and you don’t have much left of the juice. You can pull the white skin off a bit to facilitate the release of the seeds
- Do this with all the pieces of pomegranate.
- The seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the skins will float. You cannot eat the peels.
- Remove the peels from the water and discard.
- Then take the seeds. Place the seeds in a bowl. They are ready to be eaten or processed.
When you use half of the pomegranate for seeds, you want to use the other half for later or make lemonade.
Preserve Pomegranate
After peeling the pomegranate, you can store the pomegranate (seeds) in different ways:
- In the fridge
- In the freezer
- On the fruit bowl
Keep Pomegranate In Refrigerator
Whole pomegranates can keep for up to one month in the refrigerator. Make sure it is a nice and neat copy, otherwise the storage time will be shortened.
Place the pomegranate in the vegetable drawer. The temperature there is ideal. Make sure that there is no water in the vegetable drawer due to other products. Then the pomegranate starts to rot.
Store Pomegranate Seeds In The Freezer
A whole pomegranate in the freezer is not one thing. These are the seeds that you have to freeze. Read above in the blog how to tap seeds from the pomegranate. Then put it in a plastic freezer bag or container that can be closed properly.
You can keep the pomegranate seeds in the freezer for 3 months. Put a sticker on the bag with the expiration date on it. Always useful.
Keep the Whole Pomegranate
You can easily store the whole pomegranate that has not been cut on the fruit bowl. The pomegranate is a tropical fruit and is not fond of cold, so on the fruit bowl.
Preserve Half Pomegranate
You can keep half a pomegranate by placing it in a glass jar or ceramic dish that can be properly closed. Pomegranate seeds absorb other substances, so plastic is not a good idea.
Eat the seeds as soon as possible. Look, taste, and smell to assess whether you can still eat the seeds.
Pomegranate Juice
When you have half a pomegranate left, you can also squeeze it with some force with your hand and then add (spring) water or spared to it. A wonderfully refreshing drink. It does splash during squeezing, use an apron against stains! You don’t have to keep it …
So now you know how to peel a pomegranate and cleaning works. Good luck!
