Pom how-to

Do you like pomegranates?

As a fruit, I love how their hard, ugly shell reveals tiny kernels of bright red sweetness. But in terms of cooking or prepping with at home, they are usually too expensive and messy to deal with. They are in season right now and they seem to be everywhere I look at the grocery stores—more than usual really—I guess we can thank all the healthy PR they get! Last week they were on sale and I decided to buy one to dress up some fruit salad and NYE champagne; I picked a nice, big heavy one that seemed worthy of my $3. When it came time to seed it, I cut right into the pomegranate without even thinking— staining my fingers and splattering my kitchen walls into a red pink mess. I realized I had no idea what I was doing— there had to be a better way to do this.

After searching online, I found the general technique is to cut the ends off and then divide the pomegranate into sections. Then in a bowl of water, peel away the seeds from the membrane and sift out the bits— this seemed still too messy, since it’s the cutting that enables the splattering. My coworker found a similar technique with minimal cutting and it works great. Check it out: