Pomegranates and Pomegranate Jam

Welcome to another kick-ass Instructable from Disc Dog!

Earlier this year I had to trim back a Pomegranate bush to do some work near it. It had never given me many Pomegranates so I didn't think twice wackin' it down to almost half it's original size. Well, that bush must have been into of serious S&M, because later this fall it put out a boat-load of Pomegranates. I hated to see them go to waist, but 'eating' them is too frustrating to make it worth while. So I found a recipe for Pomegranate jelly. Then I read about a clever way to remove the seeds...all I had to do now was figure out a cleaver way to get the juice out of all those hard, tiny seeds.

I'm going to show you a clever way to get the seeds out of a Pomegranate, a clever way to get the best juice possible from those seeds, and what you can do with all that wonderful Pomegranate juice.

This whole process takes about 2 hours (minus the time to pick the pomegranates).

As far as equipment/supplies that you'll need, you're going to need all that is shown above. Going from top to bottom, left to right you will need:

• a large 4-6 qt bowl (glass, plastic or metal) to collect the seeds in,
• a set of sturdy, plastic bowls that nestle inside each other WITH minimum clearance,
• a small spoon (like a cereal spoon),
• a slotted spoon to clean the husks out and then to get the seeds out of the large bowl,
• a sturdy, heavy wooden spoon,
• and a sharp knife to cut the pomegranates in half.

You'll need some canning jars (not pictured) and fresh lids for the same. Use the size of jars you are most comfortable with. Be sure to gather enough. You can always put any unused ones back on the shelves.

You'll also need a measuring cup to put the juice in as you go (not pictured in this step). Since I wanted to collect about 4 cups worth of juice I used a 4-cup silicon beaker (shown in Step 2). This made a little over 2 quarts of jam.

As for the jam itself, to make a little over 2 quarts of jam you'll need:

• about a plastic grocery bag absolutely full of rip pomegranates (that should yield about 4 cups of juice),
• a cup of frozen (or fresh) Raspberries,
• a cup or two of plain, white, bad-for-your-teeth granulated sugar,
• and a package of fruit Pectin.

This recipe I used was based on a pomegranate jam I found on Simplycooking.com. I followed the cooking time but I had to vary the amount of sugar I used because the juice was already really sweet. I also added the Raspberries to the mix. You can also vary the amount of jam you make by just processing more (or less) pomegranates. Of course, feel free to use any recipe you like.

You should read this whole step through and reference the pictures. It will make more sense than reading it and doing it one step at a time.

1. Using the large, sharp knife cut the pomegranate in half as shown, then cut the spiked tip off (if you don't they will end up in the seeds). KEEP track of your fingers and don't cut yourself! (Trust me, it doesn't help the process one bit.)
2. Then, hold one of the halves in the palm of your hand as shown. Use your fingers to keep it from sitting on the palm of your hand; you'll need to keep some space under there for the seeds to go. KEEP your finger tips down low, holding the fruit half up along the edges of the fruit. If you're not holding it right you'll find out in the next step.
3. Now, using the large wooden spoon start smacking the heck out of the back of the fruit. (If your finger tips are in the way, you'll hit them; if you hit them, they will let you know! Move them down a bit!) The seeds will start jumping out into your hand!
4. If no seeds are popping out...hit it harder! I had to hit some of mine so hard that it started breaking into chunks. The more it breaks up the more that the seeds will pop out. Try to avoid breaking it up such that the half splits into smaller pieces; they are harder to keep a hold of.
5. You'll see in the pictures above that I would rotate the half around in my hand, and every so often I would look up underneath for stragglers. If I saw any tucked up in a corner I just smacked the back side of that corner and out they would pop.
6. Repeat steps 1 thru 5; cut and smack all of your halves into the big bowl. Don't worry about getting the inner husk and chattel out of the seed bowl just yet. You can pluck the large pieces out now, but you'll get the rest out in the next step.

I did this next step in the kitchen sink: Take your bowl of seeds and fill it full of fresh, clean water. Most of the chattel and husks will float to the top. Using the slotted spoon, scoop it out. You'll have to stir the seeds up GENTLY to get any floaters stuck underneath to come to the surface, but after you do this a few time the bowl should have nothing but seeds in it.

Like the last step, read this one through completely before you start it. It will make more sense that way.

There are a more than a few ways of getting the juice out of the seeds, but most of them involve crushing the whole fruit and/or the seeds as well. We will do none of that in this method. We want the juice and nothing but the juice...

The following method will give you the sweetest, purest juice you can get from them. You may only get 80-90% of the juice from the seeds this way, but [as you will taste later on] you will use a lot less sugar to make your jam. (If you need more juice just cut up a few more pomegranates.)

After you have sifted the seeds and the bowl is clean of husk and chattel, take a scoop full of seeds out of the big bowl and put it into one of the small, plastic bowls. Place the other plastic bowl on top and press down with all your weight!

Depending on the base and size of your bowls you may have to experiment a bit with the amount of seeds to start your press with. You want enough seeds to get a good crush out of, but not so many that they get caught up along the sides of the bowl. (If that happens you won't be crushing the seeds on the bottom).

Before you remove the top bowl hold it over a measuring cup (I'm using the 4-cup silicon beaker you see there) and pour your squeezin's into the measuring cup.

Take the top bowl off, and then using the small spoon clump the flattened seeds back into a heap in the center of the bowl. If you need too, add a few spoon full of seeds to the crushed seeds. Crush again, and then pour again.

Depending on how well your bowls fit together (and the clearance between them) it may take you another few crushes to maximize your crushes. The object is to use the hard inner seeds to crush the surrounding seeds. After you have squeezed your bowl full of seeds as dry as you can, dump them in the compost bin (I fed mine to the chickens).

Keep spooning, crushing, pouring and re-crushing until you get the amount of juice you need for your favorite jam recipe. It took me about 45 minutes to cut and crush enough pomegranates to get my 4 cup's worth.

After you have crushed up enough seeds to suit your recipe's needs pour it though a screen sieve to get any chunks or seed husks out. Your juice should be almost clear. Let it sit a few minutes and it will get clear.

As I wrote above, I recommend using your favorite jam recipe if you have one. I would also HIGHLY recommend taste testing your juice before you had the recommended amount of sugar. The recipe I used said 5 CUPS of sugar for 4 cups of juice. (I also added the Raspberry to the recipe because I love Raspberries.) I poured out 2 cups of sugar in my measuring cup but as I heated the juice up I started with only adding one cup then tasting it. That one cup was perfect for me! The Raspberries added a bit of sweetness to the mix, so that may have been the reason I didn't need any more sugar.

The recipe called for one package of fruit Pectin so I started with one package while it was still on the stovetop boiling away. To see if you used enough Pectin do what my wife taught me; after your mixture has cooked a few minutes, remove it from the heat and put a small spoonful on a saucer and pop it in the freezer (or fridge) for a few minutes. It will thicken up as much as it should for the amount of Pectin you used.

After it has thickened up, give it a taste test. If it's not sweet enough for your taste put you jam back on the stove for another minute and mix in more sugar. If it didn't thicken up enough for your liking add tiny bit more Pectin.

After you're satisfied, start canning your jam in accordance to the recipe that you are following.

My jam turned out absolutely amazing; it's the perfect consistency for using it on a piece of toast or pouring a bit over a scoop of ice cream, and the perfect blend of tartness and sweetness so that you can [still] taste the pomegranate, a hint of Raspberry, and not get over powered by the sugar.

If you make the same recipe [as above] let me know what you think!