How to Open a Pomegranate

Pomegranates are lovely. Packed full of antioxidants and exploding with flavor.

But if you’ve never cooked with a pomegranate before (or, let’s face it, seen one in person), they can be awfully intimidating. What do you do it? How to extract those little rubies enclosed inside?

I’ll be completely honest–it was only about a year and half ago that I had even seen a real pomegranate in person. I had no clue how to open it or what to do with it. But I had a recipe for Pear, Pomegranate & Gouda Quesadillas. Sounds incredible, right?

So off to Google I went! To save you the time and hassle, I’ve created a pictorial guide for how to open a pomegranate….

You’ll start by chopping off one end:

Then, using a knife, score the pomegranate into quarters. Just score, don’t cut all the way through!

Next, break apart the quarters with your hands. They should come apart without too much difficulty.

You’ll want to get a bowl of water and, very gently, break off the arils with your fingers and let them fall into the water. Any white flesh that falls will float to the top of the water, making it very easy to pick out at the end.

All that’s left is to strain out the water!

Now to cook! Or eat straight from the strainer. Talk about a tasty (and addicting) snack!

What are your favorite ways to eat or cook with pomegranate?