# Best way to seed & juice pomegranates?



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

About to harvest a tree - my first major pomegranate experience.

Looked on the net, best looking options were 1) cutting off crown, splitting rind and soaking 5 - 10 minutes, then pushing off the seeds, or 2) cutting in half (lots of juice loss & mess I would imagine) then tapping the rind with a spoon to break out the seeds.

Juicing is a whole other event - what do pomeganate mavens do?


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

I would love to hear how others do this.. I am planting four pomegranate trees this winter..

I have just pushed the seeds out of the rind and placed the seeds in the food processor, then run the mix thru a seive and then thru fabric..


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## kimmom2five (Apr 19, 2009)

The best way I have seen to extract the seeds without making a mess was to do it in a bowl of water with both your hands and the pomegranate underwater.


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## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Seems like running the seeds through a processor or blender would nick them and make the juice bitter. Crushing them in a zip-lock bag doesn't sound very efficient, I was wondering about a food mill like for berries but would it do the job? Hmmmm..... (My 86-year old aunt wants to make jelly - wanted to surprise her with the juice)


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

When I lived in Tucson, a neighbor used to make Pomegranate Jelly every year. He set up a table outside and used a juicer similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Metrokane-Mig...s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1317594299&sr=1-105

More vintage though 

He made the best jelly and we were always blessed to received a quart of it


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## Meconella (Dec 21, 2008)

Yes, definitely and outside job. When I was a kid, my parents purchased a lever type citrus juicer just for pressing pomegranites. It looked vaguely like this:









I've squeezed many pomegranites over the years. Seeding them first takes way too much time. I cut both ends off till I can just see seeds. Then cut the fruit in half, or quarters. Then squeeze. Pomegranites are 'strong' and you need something with good leverage to get them to give up their juice. Fortunately I have that old press my parents purchased.

Unfortunately when they are squeezed, the white pulp is also squeezed, and it can give a bitter taste. But... you can get rid of that by putting your juice in the fridge and allowing it to sit a day or so. Then carefully decant the pure dark juice from the top and it loses the bitterness. If you let it sit longer, you get more sediment to settle. 

I've also made lots of pomegranite jelly. I think it's one of the all-time best flavored jellies. And it's gorgeous!

edit:

A squeezer like this works moderately well for pomegranites too. But not as good as the old-fashioned one my parents purchased years ago.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

kimmom2five said:


> The best way I have seen to extract the seeds without making a mess was to do it in a bowl of water with both your hands and the pomegranate underwater.


This is the way I did 37 of them this Spring. Just score through the skin so that they're quartered, pull apart and pull/rub out the seeds, all while keeping everything underwater. I used the resulting 18 lbs of seeds for wine making. Freezing the seeds also made juicing easier. At least they "gave up" their juice easily. Since I was making wine I just mashed them up in cheesecloth bag in the fermenting bucket.


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## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

I knew there was more to this - thanks to everyone!


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