It’s that time of year - they’re popping up in grocery stores everywhere - and I’ve been sort of craving that sweet-tart flavor. I know how to peel them in a big bowl of water (great way to keep hands occupied while watching TV :D) but I’m at a loss what to do with them other than eat them by the handful.
Not the worst use, but … share some more creative uses? I’ve seen recipes that use them to garnish fish; is that a good flavor combo?
Good in fruit salads.
I paint faces on them, then pretend to hunt them, stab them, and eat their insides.
Sprinkle on yogurt (give a granola-like crunch, with the juicy bursts of pomegranate).
Squeeze the crap out of them and drink the juice
Reduce the juice with some sugar and lemon juice for home made grenadine
Sprinkle generously on cereal
Top ice cream with them
Mix into warm vanilla pudding
Use instead of raisins in bread pudding
Garnish cocktails with them
Add to mulling spices for mulled wine
Or, add to spices for making home made apple cider. Arils will burst and give you a “pomme-pome” cider.
Sometime around the Winter Solstice I toss a handful of the jewel-like seeds on top of a mixed salad with some citris or red pears in it. Then we talk about the myth of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest and her daughter, Persephone, who takes the light away.
I like them raw.
However, I once combined the juice from a pomegranite and some key limes to make a sauce for marinating chicken. It was pretty good.
How do you juice a pomegranate? Isn’t the juicy bits around all the seeds?
It’s kind of labor-intensive. You peel the thing, put all the little kernels into a bowl, then squish the little guys with your hands until they’re all popped. Then just strain off the juice. It makes a giant mess and will stain the hell out of your clothing if you’re not careful, but you get a reasonable amount of juice per fruit.
Squishing pomegranate kernels en masse is oddly satisfying, actually. I recommend it.
A Nigella Lawson recipe–slow roast a hunk of lamb with onions and garlic overnight (you roast it at like, 250). Then pull it. Halve a pomegranate and juice half and remove the seeds of the other half. Chiffonade a handful of mint. Mix it all together and season to taste.
To juice a pomegranate, I just use my citrus reamer. I don’t bother to take the seeds out first.
Make a salad including nom-luscious pomegranate seeds using this recipe from these here boards from, my goodness, 2004: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5474256&postcount=13
Best salad ever. It’s part of my Thanksgiving repertoire now and it always disappears down to the last seed before I can get to the table with the platter of sliced turkey. MmmmmMMMMMMMmmmmm.
One of my favourite fruit salads consists of pomegranate seeds, ripe pears, toasted chopped walnuts and diced dried figs.
I give them to my aunt, who makes Pomegranite Margaritas.
They are delicious.
I am SO glad you seem to love that salad as much as I do! Sadly, that link is broken. Happily, here’s the recipe!
1 head Romaine lettuce, washed and torn
1 bunch spinach, stems removed, washed and torn
seeds of one pomegranate
1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. oregano
salt and freshly ground pepper
Toss lettuce and spinach together in a large bowl. Add pomegranate seeds, toasted pine nuts and feta. Whisk dressing ingredients together and store in refrigerator. Toss with salad ingredients just before serving.
Eat the seeds in a bowl, with a little salt and ground cumin mixed in. (And make sure not to eat any of the white pith that makes its way into the bowl.)
Just eat 'em straight. What could be better?
I like to eat them as I take them apart. It’s like a fun puzzle and makes the yumminess last a long time.
I found this simple green salad recipe the other day - using both seeds and pomegranate juice. Went really well as a side to a BBQ.
And I deseed the pomegranate by banging it with a metal spoon (google for videos), works really well and seems even easier than the bowl of water method.
I had a pomegranate left over from last week, and in this week’s organic produce box I got persimmons. I made an apple, persimmon, walnut salad I found a recipe for, and since I always have to add something different to recipes such as these to make them “mine” I added the pomegranate seeds. I wasn’t sure if it would end up too mealy between the seeds and the walnuts, but it was fine! Turned out really well.
I’m 40, and my mom still buys a pomegranate for me to have when I visit for Christmas. Nobody else in my family ever ate them but me.
Use instead of sprinkles on top of cake or cupcakes or cookies.