Pomegranate Love
I adore pomegranates, but truth be told, I seldom buy them. They’re expensive, $2.50 or more each, and they’re a lot of work. While I’m at the store I might think, “Sure, I’ll de-seed it, and we can snack on the seeds, or I can put them in a salad, or whatever…” But then, the expensive fruit ends up just sitting there, not getting eaten, because none of us obtain the wherewithal to deal with them. Until now.
On Saturday, Ted and I went into San Francisco in search of some specific walnuts to make a walnut pie for Thanksgiving (Franquette, which are rumored to have the best walnut flavor) at the Farmers’ Market there. Unfortunately, the walnut lady had stayed home due to rain, and we ended up getting plain old black walnuts. No worries, I’m sure they’ll be lovely in our pie. While we were looking around at the different offerings of the Market, I came across a booth with HUGE pomegranates, selling for $1 each. Even knowing my proclivity for laziness regarding extricating seeds, I couldn’t pass up that deal. So I bought 2.
Do you listen to ‘Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!’ on NPR? If not, you really should. Really, it’s hilarious and silly good fun, and sometimes you find yourself learning something useful as well. Each week they have a guest, and this week it was Martha Stewart, who, amongst other things, told them how to get seeds out of a pomegranate. Good timing, no? When she described it, I couldn’t quite picture how it would work, so I went to my trusty internet, and found a video. Yay, thanks Martha!
I tried it, and it worked SO very well. Now I have a LOT of pomegranate seeds, and I got to smack the heck out of the pomegranates in the process. All of those seeds, from only 2 pomegranates, can you imagine? (I left the bowl of little tangerines in the picture, so you could get a sense of what a BIG bowl of seeds I have.) Yum.
11 Comments
Nance
I am not a big fan of pomegranates because of that seed! WHY IS IT SO BIG? But that method is so easy. I thought it was going to be some underwater thingy that I saw on some cooking or cheffy show not too long ago, and now that seems terribly worky. Boy, that Martha. She is a smartypants.
Nelson was adorable. He probably saves all of his Martha Stewart Living magazines and had to be sedated after the segment.
J
Nance, you are hilarious. I agree, he most likely did need to be sedated. I see your follow up comment about the hard part of the seed, but honestly, to me it’s all one seed, and I love all of it. YUM.
Nance
addendum: I mean the crunchy, hard part of the juicy, fruity seed. It’s yucky to me. Ruins the experience.
V-Grrrl @ Compost Studios
And..I have never eaten a fresh pomengranate, but I love when I find a simple solution to a kitchen problem!
Nuvashini Devi
Growing up we had a pomegranate tree in the front garden, it was the perfect place to plant one. We sat on the front steps and feasted! Be careful of the juice because it stains horribly. Thank you Jules for the tip which is so simple and easy. I was given 8 of them for Thanksgiving decoration. It would be foolish if I didn’t inhale them after!
Debra
I had such a giggle during that video. When he called it spanking and she said, no, it’s hitting… too funny.
J
Debra, I laughed at that, too!
Ted
I wonder if Martha learned that technique in prison? 😉 I know, that’s a cheeky thing to say, but hey, I said it.
J
Cheeky Monkey. 😉
marty
Thank you for sharing this! We love pomegranates but hate the labor-intensive prep! Spanking the Pomegranate is a brilliant solution–like Ted, I wonder where she learned this…
J
Marty, welcome to my blog! Perhaps you and Ted are correct, and she learned such a useful trick in prison. It’s nice to think of someone learning SOMETHING useful in such a place.