How To Cut a Pomegranate Tutorial Ingredients and Equipment

One ingredient! It’s all about the technique!

• • Pomegranate – Look for fruits that are hard on the outside and feel heavy for their size; don’t buy any with cracks or bruises. Choose the largest fruits you can— generally speaking, the bigger the pomegranate, the juicier it will be. The color of the rind, which ranges from bright pink to red to brick, is more about variety rather than ripeness.
  • Sharp knife – A nice, sharp paring knife will do the trick here.
  • Cutting board – Pomegranate will stain! So use a cutting board that can be wiped down easily and is stain-free.
  • Large bowl – You’ll need a bowl for all those incredible red, juicy, ripe pomegranate seeds.

How To Cut a Pomegranate Simple Steps

Once you’ve done one, you’ll never look back!

• Cut the stem end off! We don’t need it! Using a sharp knife and cutting board, place the pomegranate on its side, and remove the stem end. You’ll only have to cut off about ¼ to ½ an inch.
• Time to remove the crown! As I’m sure you’ve noticed, pomegranates have a spiky little crown. Using the same knife, remove the crown by making a thin slice right underneath where the crown sits. You’re going to hit a few seeds, which is a good thing! Almost ready to eat!
• Getting ready to split! Now that you have your pomegranate sitting upright on the flat stem end take a minute to notice how removing the crown revealed different segments of clustered seeds separated by the pomegranate membrane. There should be 5-6 segments you can make out clearly. Using your knife, gently cut the pomegranate skin vertically, tracing along each membrane-separated piece. It’ll look a bit like if you were to cut an orange into slices.
• The best part: tear away! While hovering over a bowl, carefully tear apart each outlined segment on the pomegranate. You’ll notice that by having the outline, the tension on those parts of the skin is less, so they comply easily when you’re pulling them apart. Automatically, you’ll have seeds in your bowl just from the initial tear.
• Unleash the clusters! Slowly pick apart the large clusters of seeds, and you’ll be pleased as punch to see how EASY they will fall right on out into your bowl. This is also the fastest way I’ve found while still being efficient.

How to Cut a Pomegranate Tips and Tricks/Frequently Asked Questions

• • Pomegranate juice stains! Beware! Heed our warning here- it will stain just about anything the juice touches! Clothes, cloth napkins, and cutting boards. Heck, it’ll make a run at any nicely painted dinner table… So be careful! If you care about the color of your fingertips, where gloves while you deseed, and an apron never hurts!
  • Make sure your vertical cuts are deep enough! You want your vertical cuts to have roughly ¼ inch depth into the skin. Nothing crazy, but you don’t want a very fine cut, or else it won’t encourage that tension break; we will need to separate the segments.
  • Pomegranates are a classic winter food – so enjoy them while you can! December is the best for pomegranates and the easiest time to pick up half a dozen or so for under $5. They’re super festive, and the juice pairs wonderfully with any winter cocktail you have in mind.
  • Pomegranate seeds store wonderfully. You can keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a week and at least a month or so in the freezer! They’re a super nutritious snack at your fingertips, so it’s always a bonus if you have some to pull out of the freezer to thaw in a pinch!

Now, you should have about two cups of red, juicy, snappy pomegranate seeds! 

WATCH ME MAKE THIS RECIPE

How to Use Pomegranate Seeds

There are so many ways, but here are a few.

• • Our pomegranate vinaigrette
  • A perfect fall topping for our Roasted Acorn squash Stuffed with Basil Fried Rice
  • Colorful, snappy topping for Roasted Rainbow Carrots  
  • Right out of the bowl with a spoon- which I strongly recommend doing at least once.