How to Open a Pomegranate

Pomegranates are incredibly delicious and nutritious, but most people avoid buying the whole fruit because it is so hard to open and the juice stains everything. Follow this tip from The Real Food Grocery Guide to cut open a pomegranate without making a mess or staining your fingers.

Here is a tutorial video that shows you how to do it

What you’ll need:

A pomegranate

A bowl of water

A knife

How to open a pomegranate:

Cut around the stem with the knife and remove it. You should see some of the arils inside.

Locate the “bulges” around the pomegranate. They are the thin membranes that separate the seeds into sections within the pomegranate.

Once you locate the bulges, slice along each of the with the knife.

Break apart the pomegranate into the bowl of water. Try breaking the pomegranate into two halves at first, then submerge the sections in the water.

Use your fingers to remove the pomegranate arils into the bowl of water. The membranes should float at the top while the arils sink to the bottom.

Once you remove all the arils from the pomegranate sections, skim out the membranes from the bowl using your fingers. Discard.

Pour the bowl of water and arils through a strainer.

Once the arils are mostly dry, transfer them to a bowl and enjoy!

Author: Maria Marlowe is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach who has helped thousands of people improve their health by optimizing their diet. She has created meal plans and programs to help you lose weight, clear up acne, and spend less time in the kitchen yet still eat healthy.

She has been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, NBC, Well + Good, and more. Her first book, The Real Food Grocery Guide, will teach you how to eat healthy without going broke.