How to open a pomegranate

Pomegranates are one of the healthiest favorite winter fruits. They are delicious to eat, but can often intimidate those who desire to snack on their delicious, red seeds. Some people will attempt to open the fruit by cutting it in half, but the result will be a bright red pool of juice that can stain your counter, cutting board, clothes and hands.

Have no fear. There is a trick to opening these fruits and using this method will make preparing pomegranates a breeze and you'll be enjoying those tangy, sweet seeds in no time! Don't forget that pomegranates are packed full of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Potassium, Copper, unique antioxidants and lots of other wonderful vitamins and minerals. All of these things are important to good health.

Now, let's see how simple it is to open a pomegranate and enjoy the fruit:

• 
  Fill a large bowl with cold water.
  
   
• 
  Take a knife and gently cut just through the skin - you're essentially scoring the skin. You want to get through the tough outside layer, but not so deep that you cut into the fruit. Cut once, all the way around and then rotate and cut around again so that you've scored the fruit into quarters.
  
   
• 
  Now, submerge the pomegranate in the bowl of water and using your thumbs, start gently pulling it apart along the scored lines. You might have to work at this for a couple minutes, depending on how deep your scoring line is.
  
   
• 
  Keeping the fruit submerged, pull it apart in half and then gently break it into quarters along the other line you cut.
  
   
• 
  Still with the fruit submerged, gently work out all of the little juicy seeds into the water. They will all sink to the bottom and the white membrane will float on the top.
  
   
• 
  Once you have removed all of the seeds, you can skim off the white pieces of the skin and then strain out the water. Viola! You have fresh pomegranate seeds without staining your hands, clothes, counter tops or cutting board! Enjoy!