Pomegranates are typically harvested between October and January.
Pomegranates are picked when they are ripe and ready to enjoy. They are full of bright-red, tear-dropped arils that contain a delicious juice. Some varieties can be found in August, while the commercial-harvest season runs from October to January. When juicing pomegranates with an electric juicer, be careful to separate and discard all of the membrane surrounding the arils. The membrane tastes bitter and can clog and damage the electric juicer. Hand-juicing is another method and can easily be accomplished by cutting the pomegranate in half and juicing as you would a citrus fruit.
Instructions
1. All of the arils should be removed from the membrane before juicing.
Hold the pomegranate firmly on a cutting board, and, using a sharp knife, slice the crown end off the pomegranate. Place the knife tip on the stem of the pomegranate. Score the skin downward from the stem to the crown in quarters. Firmly break the quarter sections apart with your hands by following the score lines.
2. Bend the pomegranate skin back on each section to reveal the membrane. Discard the skin. Use your fingers to gently scoop the aril clusters into a bowl of fresh water. All of the arils should be removed from the membrane before juicing. Use the knife to help further remove the arils from the membrane. Remove any membrane that still is attached from around the arils. Continue to remove the arils from each section into the bowl. Drain the water from the bowl using a colander.
3. Turn the juicing machine on. Some juicing machines come with a berry attachment that contains the fruit and stops it from jumping out. Add the arils to the juicing machine as per your manufacturer's instructions.
4. Push the food pusher down to extract the juice from the arils. The seeds will discard through the juicer's fine-mesh filter basket. If your juicer does not have a fine-mesh filter basket, strain the extracted juice through a cheesecloth-lined strainer or sieve to remove any seeds or pith that might have come through the juicer.
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