How to Cut a Pomegranate (With Much Less Mess)

石榴已经与生活联系在一起, death, rebirth, eternal life, fertility, abundance, and marriage. In Ancient Greek mythology, it was the pomegranate that explained the change in seasons. The story goes that when Hades married Persephone and took her to the underworld, he tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds, which condemned her to spend eternity there. This caused Persephone's mother Demeter, goddess of fertility, to go into mourning, which meant everything on land ceased to grow—but only for six months of each year.

Since she ate six seeds, Persephone was freed from the underworld and allowed to see her mother the other six months of the year. It was those months (spring and summer) when mother and daughter were reunited, and the land was fertile.

I can't promise you the same effect if you eat pomegranate seeds, but they're delicious anyway. To find the best, easiest, least messy method for removing the seeds, I put three common methods to the test. The clear winner is outlined in the recipe steps below.

Method 1: Whack With a Wooden Spoon

Technique:Halve the pomegranate across the equator (not poll to poll). Working with one half at a time, hold it cut side down over a large bowl. Using a heavy wooden spoon or spatula, firmly hit the skin side of the halved pomegranate with enough pressure to knock the arils into the empty bowl. Continue to firmly hit the pomegranate until all arils are removed.

Result:A great outlet for any built-up aggression, but it did require a lot of force, and took much more whacking than I anticipated. While it was labor intensive, it was mostly successful, but there were still a few arils remaining that I had to scoop out anyway.

Method 2: Cut Into its Natural Segments and Scoop

Technique:Using a very sharp knife, trim off about 1/4-inch from the blossom end and the crown end of the pomegranate, exposing the arils inside. Follow the lines of the interior white pith and the exterior raised ridges to cut through the pomegranate skin, pole to pole, into its natural segments. You should have 5 or 6 segments (depending on the pomegranate). Use a soup spoon and fingers to separate arils from pith and skin into the empty bowl.

Result:This was definitely a step in the right direction. With the ends of the pomegranate cut off, it was easy to see the natural lines of pith separating the inner segments. But the method was messy and led to more splatter and crushed arils than I cared to deal with.

Method 3 (Winning Method): Cut into Segments and Deseed Under Water

Technique:Start with Method 2's approach for segmenting the pomegranate. Then submerge the segments in a bowl of water and pry out the seeds there.

Result:Removing seeds in a bowl of water not only minimized mess, it was easier to separate any remaining loose pith from the seeds. Letting the seeds settle in the bowl of water for a few minutes allowed the white pith to float to the top, while the seeds remained submerged at the bottom of the bowl. All I had to do was use a slotted spoon to scoop out the bulk of the remaining white pith before draining the seeds and blotting them dry on a large plate, where I could also do one final inspection to remove any remaining pith.