This is another one of those "WHY AM I JUST NOW LEARNING THIS?" things.
We were at our friend Brother Wagen's house. We brought pomegranates. We went to score them and pick out all the pomegranate seeds for the next 10 minutes. And Brother Wagen stopped us immediately. "What are you guys doing. Stop. Don't you know the fastest way to do that?!" So he showed us the easiest way to de-seed a pomegranate:
Cut it in half. Bang on it really hard with a spoon. DONE.
And really, that’s it. We cut it in half. We pulled on the sides a little so it “gives”. Then, we banged on the outside part with a metal spoon. All the pomegranate seeds fell into a bowl!
We took a video of it so you can see it in action. Please note that it’s just 57 seconds long!
Yes, there were a couple (10 max) left in the pomegranate shell, but they are so easy to pick out. And doing all this in under a minute TOTALLY beats the normal “score the outside, then cut into 6 pieces. Then carefully pick out all the seeds for 10 hours or until you go CRAZY… whichever comes first”.
Ok let’s review. You’ll need: a pomegranate, knife, spoon, and bowl. Cut it in half. Bang on one side. Eat.
WARNING: It will look like a crime scene.
There’s a sharp knife covered in red, plus red splatters everywhere. The more you do this, you’ll get better at not splattering.
And now go eat and enjoy pomegranates! They are sooo tasty. In fruit salad, banana bread, drinks, etc. What do you guys like to put pomegranate seeds in? 
This makes me giggle, because I don’t buy pomegranets due to the fact that I hate deseeding them! I might reconsider next time i’m at the store :) thanks for sharing!
Haha glad you can buy them now! They are so good for you!
I have a big pomegranate tree and it’s always so difficult to eat the fruits XD thanks for the help :P
Brilliant!
To make this even easier yet, do it over a bowl full enough of water that it will likely cover the seeds by a couple inches. When all the extra shell-like bits fall in, they’ll float to the top. When finished de-seeding, pour the water off the top and all that flaky stuff goes with it, then use a colander or hold the seeds in with your fingers to pour out the remaining water (you risk losing a seed or two in the sink, but you don’t have to bother with the colander).
Wow I learning something new – although have the fun of the old way was having my daughter moan about how much work it was but how much she liked them. LOL
Thanks
Monica
http://www.somewhere-between.com
I’ve seen this before and it’s saved me so much time, since pomegranates are one of my favorites! Try putting pom seeds in your guacamole, the pop of sweetness is yummy!!
I love pomegranates mixed in quacomole!!
are you kidding me? this is awesome! Thanks for sharing!!
I have to try this! I have only bought a pomegranate once and loved the taste but we lost a kitchen rug and my favorite shirt in the process due to the blood-like stains everywhere O_O
pomegranates in guacamole… WHAT?! sounds so bizarre. And now I’ll hafta try it! Thanks ladies!
Try peeling/cutting the pomegranates under water (in the sink or deep bowl) to avoid the juice splashing.
You seriously just changed my life!
What a cool website! I feel so smart with all my new-found knowledge. On to the eggs and pomegranate.
That is the ultimate in cool!
I think the general idea is cool, however, the actuality is that a ton of that POM is wasted. We all know it takes more than a minute to properly extract every delicious red morsel… just saying.
ddsparks – there totally aren’t a lot of pomegrante wasted – i’d never allow it! like i said in the post, there were about 10-15 left in the shell… which were easy to pick out.
Okay, so now that you have all the seeds out…can you eat them…isn’t there little seeds inside the little red things? I bought one once and didn’t know what to do with it…can you eat them like they come out?
I am new at Pinterest a found you, with alittle help from my daughter. The baked eggs and pomegranate tips are AWESOME!! Can’t wait to try them. I will be visiting you again.
Denise – yes, eat the red things whole! A little crunchy but so good.
poor fruit, he doesn’t know why he’s getting spanked by a metal spoon. :)
My son in law’s family is from Mexico. He taught us a new way to eat pomegranate. After you get the seeds out, squeeze a half of a lemon over the seeds, sprinkle lightly with salt(I prefer kosher salt)and sprinkle with Tapatio (or Cholula)hot sauce. Use a Mexican hot sauce like these rather than a vinegar based southern style, or a Chinese or Asian based hot sauce. Mexican style hot sauce has an earthier flavor. Anyway toss the seeds with these ingredients, and dig in….The combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy is wonderful and very common in Mexican foods. Once I tried it , I was hooked and have figured out how to take it further. I made a salad and put a bed of baby spinach and arugala on a plate, then made a chicken salad of chopped chicken, spring onions and cilantro tossed with a touch of olive oil, topped with the pomegranate mixture………..FANTASTICO!
I hate eating pomegranates because of the hard pit in the middle of all those little seeds! Do you chew the seeds or do you spit them out? I spit them out and just find eating pomegranates a waste of time because of it. I would really appreciate an answer because all these articles and posts I see about them puzzle me.
Erin, I love the taste of poms so much that I don’t mind the crunch. If the crunch bothers you then they probably aren’t worth your time to eat them. Learn to love the crunch!!
oh my… i am so excited to try this! :)
I think of the pits as more of a nut. Its delicious.
I can’t wait to try this!!
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I love that… Not all of them came out but alot more than I get in a minute…. Definitely going to try this first then pick out the rest. I love pomegranates and can’t stand to even throw away any of them. I will only throw the soft white ones away…
OMG….awesome….just showed my teen daughter and she thanks you! ;)
LOVE this! I’ll go buy pomegranates again now!
For Erin, who hates the pits/seeds, you can just buy pom paste (a very thick syrup really) to use in recipes. It lasts a LONG time in the fridge, and is delicious!
http://www.amazon.com/Pomegranate-Paste/dp/B0012SC8XG
Awesomeness!! I cant wait to go get one and try this!!
Also what a great website! Love it!
THANK YOU! I’ve been wanting to make chocolate covered pomegranate seeds forever now. [Trader Joe's has some REALLY yummy ones and I keep thinking.... hey, I can make that!] And now I can. I’ve always been terrified to de-seed them. But now I’m going to put them in muffins, make a jam, and yes definitely make chocolate covered pomegranate seeds :)
Wow… this is why I never buy them… now I will
This is a great tutorial, however the flaw in it is that you should never use a sharp chef’s knife on a plate. Not only is it terrible for the knife, it’s possible slip and cut yourself.
I have a small quibble.
The red things inside a pomegranate are called pips.
The actual seeds are inside the pips.
When I was a child, my next door neighbor had a pom tree. My favorite time of the summer was when the fruit was ripe…straight from the tree, dig in and enjoy.
I have 2 pomegranates sitting on my counter for dinner tonight, doing this to them for sure!
Life changing!
of course like your web site but you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the truth nevertheless I’ll certainly come back again.
Dear [Hotsauce|Jalepeño|Homemade]
If you are going to criticize someone’s spelling, you should probably use proper grammar and spelling yourself. In this one short comment, you do not punctuate correctly, you use run-on sentences, you fail to capitalize your words, and you say “I in finding it very bothersome” which makes no sense at all. I believe you meant “I AM finding it very bothersome.”
Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Jerk.
Kudos on the excellent pom post, Lauren. I may need to hit the supermarket tonight! :)
It’s not necessary to “de-seed” a pomegranate at all. Simply break the pomegranate into pieces and you can eat the insides just like an apple – including the white membrane surrounding the seeds.
So Glad I saw this I have three pomegranates at home and have been wanting to eat them just have not had time to pick out all the seeds! Now I won’t have to!
Fantastic post. Thanks for sharing. I’ve included a link in my recipe http://wildcraftvita.blogspot.it/2012/10/pomegranate-liqueur.html
I learned about getting the seeds out of a pomegranate by floating it in water, but I like this method much more because it faster. Thanks!
I admit I was really skeptical about this technique. But I tried it and the results were AWESOME. There were maybe 10 seeds left in the shell, like you said. And it took less than 30 seconds. I’ll buy more pomegranates now. Thanks.:)
I love pomegranates so much I eat the skin too. Some times I don’t even peel it, I just take bites like an apple.
Fantastic! My friend forwarded this to me after I lamented about how long it takes me to peel a pomegranate (which I have willingly done b/c they are so tasty and healthy.) The blog post is so well written, too – I laughed out loud. Thanks for including the video.
After you score the pomegranate STRETCH around the rims, then whack it with the spoon. They all come out. It’s so easy.
Hello, I sure enjoyed your demostration of seeding a pomegranette. Now maybe you can explain to me or show me how to eat without the seed. I so much love the juice. I’ve heard your suppose to eat the seeds. However their bitter and I have a problem with teeth, which makes it hard to eat certian things.
Oh my goodness! Wish I had seen this just about 5 hours sooner. My husband spent a good 30-45 minutes tonight on 3 pomegranates!!
There is a much easier way to do that, and the video doesn’t show how all the pomegranate juice splashes everywhere. Here’s what you do…Cut the pomegranates in 1/4′s, then place them in a bowl of water. Let soak for 15 minutes, while in the bowl turn upside down skin facing up, pull slightly on both ends while upside down in bowl, seeds fall out easily with now mess!
Thanks for the tip, ive always wanted to know how to do this better!
I have to agree, this is definitely the way to do it. I love that you don’t fill the bowl with water like I’ve seen other people suggest. What a waste of pomegranate juice!!
OMG! Thanks so much for sharing! It is brilliant and I’ll practice when I’m in a bad mood! Sorry pomegranate!
This is a rather wasteful and violent way to do it. But, hey, Americans need things done instantaneously! Pomegranates should be handled with care. If you want to get every seed out, without it looking like a crime scene and without the inner skin attached to those seeds (as seen here at the end), just ask any someone who grew up with them. My fiancé, a Kurd from Turkey, showed me how, and there’s very little cutting involved and practically no “blood” is spilled. It’s a process that requires you to feel your way around the grooves of the fruit and push out the seeds, portions at a time by ripping at the skin and gently pulling at the seeds. It’s actually quite fun, but it does take a few more minutes than this process.
I have tried this way so many times and it never goes that fast…I have done it exactly how it is show in the video.
Thank you for this! It usually takes me about half an hour to de-seed one of these yummy fruits. it also takes my two year old and I about the same amount of time to eat one!
Is there an alternative link to watch this video? lt be that the plugin you use no longer functions.
Wish I had seen this when I lived in the middle east. We bought pomegranates for 25 cents a kilo (2.2 lbs) and had them almost every day. Sure took a lot longer than this to empty one. Thanks for another great idea.
I had no problem watching the video (am on a mac) and love this technique! Thanks so much and can’t wait to give this a whack…er…whirl…myself! :)
I have always done mine in water as Cassie suggested but not by hitting it with the spoon! I cannot wait to try it! I LOVE pomegranate! So, in true Lauren fashion, I am going to run out right now and buy one so I can try it!
Also, I find people’s issues with your post, quite entertaining! Keep it simple and carry on. Thanks!
Leave them in the bowl – water and they are yummy snacks to grab when you want a treat and little work! These things hold up for a long time!!