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There are few pleasures greater than eating pomegranate seeds fresh from the pod, and I’d say that even if the fruit weren’t a favorite of my wife, Carrie, whom, incidentally, I married three years ago today after gobbling down many pomegranates together. Pomegranates are a symbol of fertility, you know.
Pomegranates are also a bitch to eat.
My Field Guide to Produce offers a painfully protracted, seven-step process to extract the seeds. It’s a wonder anyone eats these things. Check it out:
- Cut off the crown.
- Gently scoop out some of the center white core with a spoon.
- Score just through the outer rind, marking the fruit into quarters.
- Place your thumb in the center of the core and gently pull apart the sections.
- Peel away the white pith and discard.
- Turn the skin inside out and pop out the seeds.
- To separate the seeds from any remaining white pith, place sections of pomegranate in a bowl of cold water and gently swish around. The white pieces should float to the top while the seeds sink.
Oh, they forgot Step 8: Die of hunger.
Sheesh, this Chow tip makes the process sooo much easier.
Bonus trivia: According to the Field Guide, “The French named their hand-tossed explosive after the seed-scattering properties of the fruit.” (Incidentally, The French name for the fruit is grenade.)