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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:

  1. Cut off the crown.
  2. Gently scoop out some of the center white core with a spoon.
  3. Score just through the outer rind, marking the fruit into quarters.
  4. Place your thumb in the center of the core and gently pull apart the sections.
  5. Peel away the white pith and discard.
  6. Turn the skin inside out and pop out the seeds.
  7. 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.)