Pomegranates: all other deseeding approaches are inferior
February 6, 2019 8:41 AM   Subscribe

The actual best way to de-seed a pomegranate here and here. And some examples that are clearly not as good: this one, another one, still another, and yet one more.
posted by dancing leaves (24 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup



 
I mean, this is better than my current approach of "cut pomegranate in half, then jam your fingers in there and pry out a mixture of pomegranate juice and still-intact seeds," but it still seems slow and arduous. I was really hoping there would be some magic, effort-free way of getting the white stuff (pith? rind?) to just fall away and leave delicious seeds somehow intact and accessible to stuff into one's gaping maw by the handful.

Something like that guy who worked out a magic garlic-peeling method with a couple of metal bowls and some enthusiastic shaking.

BONK GABONK ABONK GABONK GABONKA

"Done! And in a jiffy!"

posted by Mayor West at 8:51 AM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]


Do you swallow the seeds? Do you crunch them up?
posted by lostburner at 8:54 AM on February 6, 2019


The second link is the way we have always done it in our family. I mean it's never perfect, you're going to get some juice on your hands, but it still works and it's worth it. The effort you put into de-seeding is a part of the joy, it makes every bite and niblet worth it.
posted by Fizz at 9:00 AM on February 6, 2019


I just want to say that a local grocer used to have a handwritten sign for pomergrants, and I will always cherish that memory, along with the pet store owner who called pomeranians pomenarians.
posted by moonmilk at 9:06 AM on February 6, 2019 [12 favorites]


In that first video, he catches and then deliberately throws away at least three seeds!?!?!?!

Sacrilege!
posted by jacquilynne at 9:13 AM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]


I find that slicing them into halves or quarters and them giving them to your parrot works pretty well to deseed them. The seeds may not be usable for anything except fertilizer afterward, though.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:15 AM on February 6, 2019 [5 favorites]


I like the bowl of water method (white pith floats, seeds sink) but you do lose some of the tasty juice that way it seems. This looks useful!
posted by sixswitch at 9:23 AM on February 6, 2019


Absolutely the wrong way
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:25 AM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


Around here, spremuta is the lazy (but quenching) solution to this particular problem.
posted by progosk at 9:26 AM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


"cut pomegranate in half, then jam your fingers in there and pry out a mixture of pomegranate juice and still-intact seeds

There are other methods???
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:32 AM on February 6, 2019


In that first video, he catches and then deliberately throws away at least three seeds!?!?!?!

Sacrilege!
I've never seen a pomegranate tree before, and that guy had what appeared to be a whole orchard full of them. I think the view of the pomegranate one percent is very different than ours.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:32 AM on February 6, 2019 [18 favorites]


In that first video, he catches and then deliberately throws away at least three seeds!?!?!?!

Sacrilege!


Yeah, that's at least a quarter of the year in the underworld as the spouse of Hades, right there
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:43 AM on February 6, 2019 [21 favorites]


I never understood the underwater method; tried it once and found it exactly as difficult as seeding it above water, but splashier.

I like how so many of the "wrong" techniques boil down to "use the 'right' technique and then whack it with a spoon for some reason".
posted by ook at 9:52 AM on February 6, 2019 [4 favorites]


Do you swallow the seeds? Do you crunch them up?

Yes to both, although not in that order.
posted by holborne at 10:04 AM on February 6, 2019 [5 favorites]


wait wait wait a pomegranate is just an orange made out of seeds?
MIND BLOWN.
posted by chavenet at 10:12 AM on February 6, 2019 [4 favorites]


BTW, the bitter white pulp in the pomegranate is basically pure vitamin C.


I think the view of the pomegranate one percent is very different than ours.

If they're not picked in time, they burst. Makes you a bit cavalier about losing a seed here and therre.
posted by ocschwar at 10:19 AM on February 6, 2019 [4 favorites]


Deseeding a pomegranate while wearing a white t-shirt shows an admirable commitment to his craft. I'm sold.
posted by sjswitzer at 10:54 AM on February 6, 2019 [15 favorites]


There are a couple of pomegranate trees by my wife's parents' house. I have never felt remotely tempted to take one because this is in Japan and Japanese pomegranates are a pale imitation of the regular ones.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:23 AM on February 6, 2019


Oh, can I?

Of course I can!

I have discovered THE DEFINITIVE BEST WAY TO EAT A GRAPEFRUIT and I challenge ANYONE to show me a better way
posted by rebent at 1:30 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]


I have discovered THE DEFINITIVE BEST WAY TO EAT A GRAPEFRUIT

What? That is awesome!
posted by sjswitzer at 1:51 PM on February 6, 2019


What? That is awesome!

Yeah, really uncanny the way those wedges just mysteriously disappear, I'm pretty sure the soap-suds are part of the trick...

Jests aside: that's how Sicilians prepare their orange salads: full-peeling the fruit, and then slicing out every single skinless wedge.

As regards grapefruit, though: the BEST WAY, surely is: halved, knife-wedged, drizzled with chestnut honey, and grilled until just barely singed in the top-heat-only oven. Spoonfuls of hot-cool, bittersweet delight...
posted by progosk at 3:11 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]


The reason I never eat pomegranates is that I've also always used the "cut pomegranate in half, then jam your fingers in there... method which I guess has the benefit of burning more calories than you eat. Watching those first two videos were a revelation. Like the pith stuff peels off in a sheet! What?! I'm going to go buy a pomegranate tomorrow. I hope I don't cut off a finger in my enthusiasm to try this out.
posted by pangolin party at 4:01 PM on February 6, 2019


I came to this method with the attitude "eh, how different can it be? Just whack the knife in and go for it!"

Reader, I was wrong.

Bless the glory of Turkish* culinary ingenuity.

*Not necessarily Turkish of course.
posted by prismatic7 at 5:53 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]


I already had a pomegranate in the fruit bowl for tonight's dinner. Used method 1/2. Worked an absolute treat. I never really enjoyed beating my fruit with a spoon.
posted by michswiss at 1:17 AM on February 7, 2019


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