SFist: SFist in the Kitchen: Pomegranates

glenna

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 19:16:29 -0800

How can I make pomegranate vinegar? I want to be able to seal it in bottles to keep for gifts, too. I'm thinking 100% juice mixed with quality vinegar and a touch of sugar, set aside for 2 weeks. Then boil 15 minutes and seal in bottles. Anyone have experience with this?

Derrick Schneider

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 08:53:53 -0800

Brett, The food mill was something I stumbled on a while back. It had the best effort to yield ratio (I think a mortar and pestle got more yield, but with lots more effort). It doesn't slice through the seeds the way a food processor does, and I imagine that, as with grapes, that's where the bitterness would be. I like the old-fashioned citrus juicer idea (certainly the Apple Farm folks would know).

Brett

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:27:05 -0800

I never thought of using a food mill to extract the juice from the seeds (arils). Sounds like a great idea! The folks at Bates and Schmidt (Apple Farm), who make an incredible pomegranate jelly, taught me to halve the poms and use an old-fashioned citrus juicer (the kind with the lever) to juice them. I've found using a food processor or an electric juicer releases too much bitterness from the center of the seed. I imagine the food mill wouldn't release that bitterness. On the other end of the spectrum, I've found the juice from POM to be too filtered and refined, nearly indistinguishable from grape juice.

Fatemeh

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 22:31:51 -0800

I'm so glad pomegranates are getting their due... obviously, they are one of my favorite things, in all their forms -- whole fruit, juice and especially molasses. I have a pleasantly cracked one sitting on the counter waiting for me now, in fact. Oh, and that reminds me to mention the oft-overlooked obvious: the juice-sucking method doesn't work so well with cracked poms. ;-)

Derrick Schneider

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 07:49:21 -0800

Amy and Marc, Thanks so much for the tips. I think the Pom Council's advice runs along your lines, Marc, but Amy's would seem to involve even less fuss. I've used POM in the past, but I have that whole "Stop. Think. There must be a harder way." attitude. So I tend to juice them when in season.

Marc

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:37:23 -0800

Another way to extract the seeds from a pomegranate is to fill a large, clean bowl with water, then do the seed removal underwater. Keeping the fruit underwater will significantly reduce the splattering. The seeds sink while the inner membrane floats for easy separation.

Amy

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 12:42:37 -0800

Pomegranates are delicious but so hard to enjoy. I found this peeling tip somewhere in the cookbooks: score the skin (or cut the pomegranate in quaters) and let it soak in cold water for 10 mins - the peels and white membrane are easily removed. Also, if you just love the taste and can't bother, POM offers pomegranate juice. Yum, but don't spill.