A Clean Way To Peel Pomegranates

Have you ever wished that you knew of an easier way of peeling pomegranates? Or at the very least, a method of preparation that didn't leave small splashes of ruby red on your clothes?

Over the weekend, my mother and aunt showed my wife and me a great technique for peeling pomegranates that is much cleaner and more efficient than the painstaking and usually sticky method we have grown accustomed to over the years.

Here's what you do:

1. Slice the top and bottom off a pomegranate and score the skin from top to bottom around the pomegranate every few inches, just as you would do to an orange to make it easy to peel.
2. Dunk the scored pomegranate in a large basin of water and use your fingers to separate the arils (seeds) from the red skin and white membrane that surround the arils. Throw the hard bits of red skin away. Loose portions of white membrane will float to the surface, while the arils will sink to the bottom of the basin.
3. Use your hands or a small strainer to scoop the white membrane bits off the surface of the water and discard them.
4. Strain remaining water and arils. Voila! You are left with a whole pomegranate's worth of tasty and nutritious arils.

Enjoy this simple and clean method of peeling pomegranates. Few fruits provide the sheer concentration of antioxidants that pomegranates do. Eating them on a regular basis may offer protection against cardiovascular disease, prostate challenges, and other chronic, degenerative health challenges.