How to Make Healthy and Delicious Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate juice is known for being full of vitamin C and antioxidants. Making your own juice is an easy and fun way to provide yourself with these nutrients. Pomegranates become readily available in the USA in the winter months—making them an ideal nutrition boost to your winter diet. One medium sized pomegranate will make about 1/2 cup of juice. If you’re making juice for a crowd, you will need to plan accordingly. Pomegranate juice does not have a long life. It lasts up to 3 days in a refrigerator. Copied over.
Step 1: Cut the Pomegranate
Pomegranate fruit has a hard skin. If you’re not careful, and apply too much force, you’ll find yourself splattered in pomegranate juice right as you begin. An easy way to cut pomegranate is to cut off the top of the fruit. Score the pomegranate into four sections. Now hold your scored pomegranate over a bowl to catch any juice that releases, and use your fingers to separate the four sections.
Step 2: Remove the Membrane
Pomegranate seeds are protected by a bitter membrane, which needs to be removed before you begin juicing. Place the sections of pomegranate into a bowl of cool water. Gently roll the seeds out of the membrane. Once all of the seeds are released, gather all the membrane and dispose of it.
Step 3: Juice
Place all of the seeds into a blender and slowly pulse the seeds until they are liquefied. Place a cheese cloth or strainer bag into a pitcher or cup, (whatever you will be using to store the juice). If necessary, you can use a bucket and then transfer the juice later. If you are using a cheesecloth—secure it to the container with the rubber band to or string so it takes the shape of a bag to catch the juice and pulp. Slowly pour the liquefied pomegranate seeds onto the cheese cloth or strainer bag. The juice will seep through, but the seeds will not. If you have enough seeds, juice will continue to seep through for quite some time, so be patient. You can gently squeeze your bag with clean hands to help the process move along.
Step 4: Hand Juicing
If you don't have a blender, you can place the seeds in a plastic bag and gently press the seeds to release the juice. Once you have completely pressed the seeds, run the juice through the cheesecloth or strainer as you did in step 3. This method may be preferred even if you have a blender because it can avoid some of the bitter taste from pulverized seeds entering the juice.
Step 5: Final Touches
Once you have strained as much juice as you can—taste it. If you find the juice too tangy, you can add a sweetener. You can also add some water to lessen the concentration of juice. Cool your juice and serve. As you grow more confident in your juicing abilities, you will be able to add other fruit flavors that complement the pomegranate juice. Once you have the juice ready, it can be used in several ways. Pomegranate juice is great for parties, and it also makes great smoothies and sorbets.
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![Carolann Krohn]()
Carolann is a contributing writer for DoItYourself.com. She's an experienced researcher with a wide range of interests relating to home improvement and gardening, and especially enjoys learning about heating, plumbing, and home construction.![Stephini Candella]()
Stephini Candella is a Nutritionist, and attended the University of Texas for a B.S. in Nutrition and Didactics. She was a manager for a small gourmet restaurant, and has spent over 15 years cooking as a hobby for health. She has extensive knowledge of food science, micro-nutrition, history of the classic foods from across cultures, modern commercial and home cooking processes, disease restricted diet meal planning (cardiovascular, GAPS, diabetes), and popular diet trend (Paleo, Keto, Vegan) diets. Stephini most enjoys meal planning that focuses on simplicity and cost-effectiveness, and she strongly believes these are the foundations for delicious and healthy meals—the basis for a happy life. She is addicted to reading food labels, and uncovering the nutritional benefits of traditional cooking techniques of the classical foods across cultures. If you let her, she will talk your ear off over her fascination for how traditional fermentation cultivates the metabolic byproduct of certain bacteria into nutritional gold for human health. Stephini is also a CRLA (Certified Reading and Writing English Tutor) and has professionally tutored college students as well as K-12 students for an accumulated 15 years expanding to private school curriculum development and teaching in STEM and STEAM. She has been a professional researcher for multiple private and non-profit companies and organizations including the University of Texas Food and Housing Division. There, she researched and wrote recommendations for the University’s campus wide composting and food waste reduction initiatives, design and management of campus wide food waste studies, and the procurement of technologies best suited for large scale composting and food waste reduction. As a former Red Cross shelter manager, she has worked with her National Guard, and the US Army and Marines in search and rescue, procuring, and deploying multiple shelters serving thousands of evacuees. She has overseen the management of over 25 shelters in the state emergency operation center, and was held responsible for procurement of meals, medical supplies, and basic necessities. She also assisted in local county natural disaster rescues, providing insurance evaluations and recommendations for approving families affected by natural disasters to receive financial aid, housing, and food assistance. In addition, she volunteered for her local food pantry and domestic violence shelter where she prepared food. These discovered passions for emergency aid volunteer work led her to pursue national and state EMS licensures. She has traveled from Houston to New York to Seattle on a Leadership Scholarship, listening to world renowned scholars on the values of great leadership. Her favorite being the opportunity to sit and connect with the grandsons of Gandhi, listening to their first hand childhood experiences growing up alongside their grandfather organizing and executing his activism. Presently, Stephini conducts research and assistance on customer relationship management campaigns for 30 year veteran executives and business owners as an operations manager for a small, boutique executive assistance CRM firm. She has retired into a quiet, family-centric life, and can be found living between her home and college towns where she is raising her children. There, she is imparting her love for DIY learning and food on to them in the hopes that self-directed creativity and production will bring to them the same sense of holistic wellness that she’s experienced for herself.
