How to Make a Pomegranate Juice
Do You Know the Health Benefits of Pomegranate Juice?
Pomegranate juice is packed with health advantages, including a rich content of antioxidants. Moreover, it offers additional health benefits beyond just its antioxidant properties.
It is always suggested to make pomegranate juice at home rather than buying it from any stores. Making juice at home is much easier and also very beneficial.
Making it at home has a purer flavor. Bottled juice has added sweeteners or natural or artificial flavors. Pomegranate juice is often blended with other fruits to create fruit cocktails, which have a sweet and mellower taste.
Even a fresh pomegranate juice is indeed a great ingredient to keep on hand for drinking or to use for margination, or in salad dressings, smoothies, syrups, or adding a dash of color and sweet-tart.
How to Pick Pomegranates
According to conventional wisdom, the best pomegranates are the ones that are bright red color on the outside and unblemished skin. However, some people think that the best pomegranates with deep ruby arils are the ones that are slightly cracked and have some golden brown patches on the exterior (see the photos below). The sweetest pomegranates tend to be ones that I buy from the farmer’s market and not from the grocery store.
Health Benefits of Pomegranate
- Pomegranate helps to reduce inflammation as it has very high levels of antioxidants.
- It also helps to build immunity since it is rich in potassium, vitamin C, and E
- Pomegranate is a great source of fiber.
- Also, it is very low in calories.
How to Easily Peel Pomegranate
Step 1- Start with washing the fruit and pat dry it with a kitchen towel. First cut off the top crown and scoop out a bit of yellow portion right below the cut crown area. On the bumpy portions of the fruit make 5 shallow slits. Only with minimum pressure, take apart each section. Now you will have the fruit apart in 5 sections photos.
Step 2-Now pull out the outer peel from every section. Using your fingers not the nails gently push the seeds working on one section at a time. You will notice that most of the peel and extra membrane comes off easily and the arils start to fall out into the bowl with minimum effort photos. Slitting the fruit in this manner separates the inner membrane from the arils and makes it easy to deseed the fruit
How to Make a Pomegranate Juice
Fresh Pomegranate juice is a lot tastier than the one brought from stores. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make Pomegranate juice.
Cook Time30 mins
Total Time30 mins
Ingredients Required
- 5 to 6 large pomegranates
Instructions to Follow
Step 1-Using a paring knife, remove the part of the pomegranate that looks like a crown. I like angling my paring knife downward and making a circle around the crown.
Step 2-Score the pomegranate into sections. I find scoring the fruit 4 times is enough for me, but feel free to score it a few more times.
Step 3-Break open the pomegranate into sections.
Step 4-Fill a large bowl with cool water. Break apart the pomegranate arils underneath the water. It helps prevent pomegranate juice from squirting everywhere. (By the way, do not wear light-colored clothes while you are doing this.)
Step 5-Drain the water from the pomegranate arils when you’re done separating them from the rind.
Step 6-Pour the arils into a blender. Blend until all the arils have been crushed but most of the seeds are still intact. This usually takes no more than 15 to 20 seconds.
Step 7-Pour the juice through a strainer. You will notice that the juice passes through the strainer pretty slowly because the pulp is pretty thick. To speed up the process, use a rubber spatula to press the pulp against the strainer. The juice should drip through faster.
Step 8-Pour juice into a glass to serve. 5 to 6 large pomegranates should yield about 4 cups of juice. Leftover juice can be refrigerated in a jar for 5 to 6 days.
Nutritional Value of Pomegranate Juice
- Serving: 1cup
- Calories: 136kcal
- Carbohydrates: 33g
- Protein: 0.4g
- Fat: 1g
- Saturated Fat: 0.2g
- Sodium: 22mg
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Sugar: 31
Variations: Flavor Add-Ins!
If you want to add other flavors in the pomegranate juice then you can do so. This will also be helpful if you want to make a large quantity of juice.
- Pomegranate apple: Add 1 diced apple to the blender.
- Pomegranate pineapple: Add 1 cup chopped fresh or canned pineapple.
- Pomegranate mango: Add 1 cup of diced fresh mango.
- Pomegranate pear: Use 1 pear instead of the apple
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: How can we store pomegranate seeds?
Ans: The best way to store already peeled pomegranate arils is to first put them in an airtight container and then refrigerate for up to 8 days. Remember not to wash the seed as the water will make the arils turn soggy and brown.
Q2: How can we store pomegranate juice?
Ans: You can store pomegranate juice in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days but keep in mind that it will lose nutrients as the juice begins to oxidize. It is also easy to freeze and can be used within one year.
Q3: What to do if the skin of pomegranate dries out?
Ans: In case you keep the fruit for a long time on the kitchen counter, you can see that the skin dries out and it becomes difficult to peel it. So to bring the moisture back keep the fruit in the cold water for 25 to 30 minutes and then peel it.
To Wrap it Up
Pomegranate juice is a good treat to give yourself. It has a lot of health benefits. This refreshing and delicious juice is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are good for health. It also helps o build immunity, detoxes the body naturally, and provides much-needed nutrients. If you are worried that what to do with the leftover juice then do not be, you can easily store the juice in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.