Where this topic came from…
There I was. At a yoga retreat. Eating a farm to table lunch – that included a salad. There were persimmons and pomegranate arils in the salad. The salad was particularly delicious. I mentioned at the table that I was excited because I could recreate the salad as I’d just scored 3 large beautiful pomegranates from Aldi that were only 0.99 cents each. One of the ladies at the table said :
What are you going to do? Spend all day de-seeding the pomegranates ??
Why this is funny – is 1). There I was at a yoga retreat… like, in what world does THAT actually happen and 2) how do I control my face and respond nicely to say – something like – it only takes a few minutes to de-seed a pomegranate.
To “get” the joke you have to know me. I used to be a tried and true mid-western gal. Call em’ as I see em – and not entirely flexible and for sure not buying whatever you might be selling. If I disagree with you my face tells you so. The world is black and white – bits are on or off…
Fast forward nearly 11 years of me living in Southern California… I’ve taken up hot yoga which went from Hocus Pocus Bullsh*t to being necessary weekly for me to live my best life. Enter a friend who wants me to join her on a Yoga retreat that includes art, meditation, sound therapy (say, whaaat?) and breathe work (I have no literal idea…). Could not have seen that one coming… Yes, I went. It was gorgeous. It was a little bit “out there”…
I *think* I did a fairly good job of answering the nice woman about how long it takes to de-seed a pomegranate – but then I realized – folks don’t know how to de-seed a pomegranate and certainly don’t know it (only) takes a few minutes each. I know – because I wanted to time myself for this post and ensure that I knew what the heck I was talking about.
Pictures of the time it took / the clock for 2 pomegranates that I de-seeded are shown below. One pomegranate took 10 minutes, and the other only 8 minutes to de-seed.
So – there you are – I’m definitely NOT going to spend all day de-seeding my pomegranates!
Pomegranates are Super Healthy
According to WebMD – pomegranates are good for Potassium – needed for your heart, muscles, nerves and more. They contain antioxidants which boost your immune system and may help protect against: inflammation, the aging processes, heart conditions, and certain cancers They also include Manganese which is needed to form bone and joint tissues. Folate and Thiamine are included also – and they help with growth, development, and cell function. The fibre in the seeds will fill you up fast and aid digestion. Lastly – vitamin C protects cells and heals wounds.
Surely seems like we all should be eating lots of pomegranates! Per Healthline – the overall nutritional value in one medium pomegranate includes : 234 Calories, an interesting 4.7 g of Protein (who would have guessed?) and maybe even more surprising 3.3 g of Fat (from the seeds (!)), 52 g carbs – from the sugar and 11.3 g of fiber. The pom has 32% of Daily Value (DV) Vitamin C, 27% of your Folate, 8% of your magnesium and phosphorus both and 13% of your needed potassium. However, all these values are in a full pom. Not sure you’d be eating a full one in a sitting…
So let’s get to it.
How to De-Seed a Pomegranate:
- Get your apron on. You don’t want to ruin your shirt and you will absolutely with 100% confidence will spurt pomegranate juice while de-seeding.
- Get a moderately big bowl and a sharp knife.
- Cut the top off your pom – using your fingers – push out the arils from the top into your bowl. (waste nothing)
- Using the top of the Pom for a guide – Score the pomegranate where the spongy inner white part of the pomegranate (technically called the mesocarp) and the seeds attach. Generally the mesocarp meets the side of the pom and creates breaks or sections of the pomegranate. Sometimes you have to make your own breaks if they are not entirely clear – that’s OK too.
- Turn the pomegranate upside down, arils facing the bowl, and using the scores you made, pull apart the pomegranate into sections.
- Take each section off the whole fruit and work the section – pushing the arils out and off the base of the mesocarp – and into your bowl. If the pomegranate is fresh and the arils are crisp and full – they will push out super easy. Work around and remove any of the segment separator / white layers.
- If your arils are mushy or brown or icky – definitely do not push them off and into the bowl. Toss those sections of the fruit. You want only the beautiful, plump, full arils.
- As you work through the sections – try to keep all the white pith or mesocarp out of the bowl.
- When you are done – you will have more than a cup of arils released from a medium-large Pomegranate and it won’t take all day. I promise. 😀
What to do with your pom seeds ?
I mostly just eat the pom seeds with my yogurt in the morning – instead of berries or sometimes with my berries.
I also like to sprinkle the pomegranate arils on salads as the yoga retreat farm to table salad had – which started this whole post. Think arugula or romaine with feta (salty) or goat cheese (creamy) and pomegranate (sweet) with a nice creamy balsamic dressing. The lunch salad at the yoga retreat had persimmons also – you could also sub in a thin pear slice. They also had chopped walnuts (be fancy and roast them before serving / adding to your salad). The dressing was a red wine vinegar with maple syrup. I think I might work on that – for one of our dinners coming up !
Yes, I will post it… 😉
Of course, if you have pomegranate seeds in the house – you think martini, right ? Hmmmm I may have to take one for the team and see about making a fresh pom martini. I mean – it’s research and science, and sort of my job, right ?
Yes, I will post it… FOR SURE.
Before I close – I’m sure there’s some pork recipe out there with Pom and maybe even persimmons – for a nice fall flavor fest. I’ll have to research that too, I’m sure. Some day…. But first, a martini!
