What do I do with a…pomegranate?

Have you ever had a pomegranate?

I hadn’t until the other day. I wasn’t even sure what a pomegranate was except a fruit that offers tons of health benefits. Here’s a video I came across on the health benefits of  pomegranates: http://www.ehow.co.uk/video_4756608_health-benefits-pomegranate.html.

Since every grocery store I’ve been to in the last couple weeks have had pomegranates available, I decided it was time to try one.

At first I was just going to wash it and cut it open, but as few days went by and I didn’t get to it my adventurous spirit dwindled and I thought I better find out what the “right” thing to do with it is. So I took to the internet, of course, and found out this is not just a cut, slice and eat type of fruit, or is it?

At first pomegranates were portrayed as complicated to cut and messy to eat. Videos on how to cut  pomegranates ranged from downright dangerous (slicing through the tough skin with a very sharp, long knife) and complicated (scoring and soaking just to get through the skin to get to the seeds) to easily just cutting in half and whacking out the seeds(more my impatient style.) The seeds, I learned, are what we really want out of the pomegranate. The seeds can simply be eaten, added to salads or blended and run through a sieve for juice.

There are also MANY other ways to use pomegranate seeds. The one I can’t wait to try is a Christmas recipe from Nigella Lawson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27KmLvfCoRA.

For now, I decided to stick with my original thought and just wash it and cut it open…AND beat the seeds out of it!

Woo Hoo! This was SUPER easy! And boy have I been missing out! These little seeds are ADDICTIVE!! You MUST give it a try!