If you have ever wondered how to eat a pomegranate, it’s due time that you figured out the best way to enjoy this delightful and nutrient-dense fruit.
How to Eat a Pomegranate?
Before you eat a pomegranate, it is important that you choose the right pomegranate from the store. Some of the important things to look out for when choosing a pomegranate include the color and the texture. [1]
- First and foremost, always look for pomegranates that are bright red or a deep, dark red. These fruits are nearing ripeness and will be sweeter than those fruits that are pink or pale red. The arils of those fruits will be tart, perhaps too sour to eat and enjoy.
- In terms of texture, the skin should be smooth and tight, without any wrinkling or puckering of the peel. Hold it in your hand and it should feel slightly heavy; as these are very dense fruits.
- The shape should also not be a perfect circle, as this is likely underripe; you want a pomegranate that almost has a boxy shape, meaning that it is bursting at the seams with delicious seeds.
Before you eat a pomegranate, it is vital that you choose fruits that are deep, dark red. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
- Once you choose the perfect pomegranate, you will want to get at the seeds in the best way possible.
- First of all, you want to remove the small flower at the top of the fruit; simply pry it out (carefully) with a knife.
- Then, slice all four sides of the fruit with a knife before pulling the quarters apart from the center.
- The seeds may come spilling out, but they are usually held in place with the membranes around the arils.
This is where the process gets a bit messy; the pomegranate should be easy to tear off in chunks at this point, so most people will remove the seeds from part or all of the pomegranate and store them in a plate or bowl. The seeds near the pith should pop off rather easily under a bit of pressure, which means that they’re ripe.
Now that you have your seeds separated from the white pith and skin, you can eat them raw, snack on them like sweet popcorn, or you can pulp the seeds into pomegranate juice. Pomegranate seeds are also excellent toppings for salads. Another popular choice is to save pomegranate seeds for a unique cocktail garnish or flavoring element.
