Pomegranate Juice Recipe
Updated: November 23, 2023, By Swasthi
Treat yourself to this delicious and refreshing homemade Pomegranate Juice. This is one of the best with many benefits in a glass! This refreshing & delicious goodness is loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that is great for everyone. It builds immunity, detoxes the body naturally and provides much needed nutrients. Learn to make Pomegranate Juice at home, with easy steps to cut and deseed.
This ancient, sweet and tart fruit is the original basis for grenadine, a fruity syrup popular in beloved cocktails and mock tails. It remains popular in Mediterranean, Central Asian, and South Asian cuisines.
Most pomegranates come into season in autumn from September to November (although you can find them in stores as late as January). While you can eat their beautiful arils either on their own or sprinkled over salads, cooked entrées, desserts, or a nice bowl of yogurt, pomegranate arils have one more valuable ingredient to offer: pomegranate juice.
Benefits of homemade Pomegranate Juice
While pomegranate juice does have some health benefits, such as high levels of antioxidants, there are definitely other advantages to making pomegranate juice at home.
To start, it’s fresher. You can use pomegranates bought in season and at their peak, instead of drinking pomegranate juice made from concentrate.
You also get a purer flavor from homemade Pomegranate Juice. Many bottled fruit juices have added sweeteners or natural or artificial flavors. Pomegranate juices specifically are often blended with other fruits to create fruit juice cocktails, which generally have a sweeter and mellower taste.
Fresh, plain pomegranate juice is a great ingredient to keep on hand for drinking on its own and for cooking. Whether it’s for marinades, salad dressings, smoothies, syrups, or adding a dash of color and sweet-tart flavor to baked goods, homemade Pomegranate Molasses is the way to go. For this you can use the fresh pomegranate juice.
More Veggie/ fruit juice recipes,
Celery Juice
Cucumber Juice
Ginger shot
Orange juice
Apple juice
Grape juice
Watermelon juice
How to pick a pomegranate
It’s pomegranate season! After heading down to your local supermarket or farmer’s market, how do you know which pomegranates are ripe and perfect for juicing?
Pick a pomegranate that feels heavy. Pomegranates that are heavy for their size have more juice.
Ripe pomegranates should have smooth, glossy skins; make sure there’s no soft, bruised spots. Pomegranate skin colors can vary and don’t really dictate ripeness.
Look for flat, angular sides in a ripe pomegranate (it’s the juicy seeds pressing up against the skin). If a pomegranate is perfectly round that means it’s unripe & the arils are not matured yet.
Once you know what key characteristics to look for, you can pick out pomegranates like a pro!
Photo Guide
How to cut and deseed a Pomegranate
Before you begin deseeding a pomegranate, keep in mind that pomegranate juice stains. If you don’t want your kitchen to look like the set of a horror movie, be careful of what you’re wearing and the materials you’re using. Plastic cutting boards might get stained, so wooden cutting boards are recommended. Use vinegar or lemon juice to clean your wooden cutting board if things get messy and pink.
Luckily, this deseeding technique should help keep kitchen mess to a minimum. Once you know the technique, you can use pomegranate arils for all kinds of good cooking.
1. Wash pomegranates under running water. Cut off the crown, the top portion of the pomegranate.
2. Similarly cut down the bottom part of the fruit. This loosens the rind as it looses the strength on both the parts.
3. Remove the top of the pomegranate by cutting a shallow, angled circle around the crown. Wiggle it loose and discard. Make 4 shallow cuts as you see in the picture.
4. Hold 2 of the parts/segments in each hand and gently pull out to separate them. Without messing up, the fruit gets divided to 4 segments/parts. Pomegranates stain the work tops and even the clothes. A few disposable tissues or a kitchen cloth is helpful.
5. Separate each segment.
6. Deseed to a large bowl, they come off easily. Or You may immerse one segment at a time in a large bowl of clean water and remove the pomegranate arils under the water. Once you are done with all the segments, drain the water and remove any rinds.
7. Discard all of the yellow and white membranes from the bowl.
Photo Guide
How to make Pomegranate Juice in blender (Stepwise photos)
If you prefer cold juice, freeze the seeds for some time and then juice them.
In a blender
1. Making pomegranate juice in a blender is surprisingly easy. Add the arils to the blender.
2. Add a pinch of salt and lemon juice if you prefer.
3. Pulse briefly – 10 to 15 seconds, depending on the strength of your blender. You want to make sure the seeds are still mostly intact but the juice around the seeds is released. Crushing the seeds will make the juice gritty and requires to be filtered in a fine strainer like the one I used below.
Tip: I prefer to crush the seeds as well since they are said to contain medicinal properties. Also the seeds contain nutritional values especially antioxidants, punicic acid, fiber and vitamin E.
4. Once the arils are crushed, pour the blender’s contents through a very fine mesh strainer into a bowl to separate the seeds and pulp from the juice. It is important to use a fine strainer if you do not want the juice to be gritty.
5. Don’t be afraid to press the pulp against the strainer with the back of a spoon or spatula to squeeze out every bit of fresh juice.
6. Because I crushed the seeds pomegranate juice looks frothy. If you want a clear juice, strain it again through a fine strainer or a thin cheese cloth. Consume pomegranate juice fresh before it begins to oxidize. Adding ice cubes dilutes the juice and reduces the taste & the nutrition values as well.
Pomegranate Juice in slow juicer
I use a large piece of ginger as it helps to prevent colds since cold pressed juice is quite cooling to the body. You can skip ginger in summers. I squeeze a large lemon & add a bit of Himalayan salt too into the pitcher.
Pomegranate juice made in a slow juicer is more clear without grits. Drink your pomegranate juice immediately as is, store in the refrigerator for later culinary uses, or dilute with seltzer water to stretch the juice further.
No blender? No problem!
You can place the cleaned arils in a disposable plastic Ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin. Strain the juice as you would with the blender technique, and you’ve got fresh pomegranate juice; all it took was a little more elbow grease.
Expert Tips
Storing pomegranate juice: If you decide to store your pomegranate juice for later, it can last in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days but remember that there is a loss of nutrients as the juice beings to oxidize. It’s also easy to freeze and is best used within one year if frozen.
Storing pomegranate arils: Store the pomegranate arils in air tight glass container and refrigerate for up to 4 to 5 days. Store the juice in glass jars or bottles for 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Rehydrate the fruit: If your pomegranates have been lying for too long on the counter the skin usually loses moisture and turns dry. It is hard to peel them so simply soak the whole fruit in cold water for 25 to 30 minutes before you cut and deseed.
Combinations
There are several fruits you can use in combination with pomegranates to juice, especially if you are using a slow juicer. The most popular one is the apple pomegranate combo.
Since pomegranate juice is high in iron, combining it with fruits high in vitamin C may help the absorption of iron. So we normally use a lemon or or few oranges or apple while juicing pomegranates in a slow juicer.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Pomegranate Juice Recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1 kg pomegranate (about 5 large)
- 1 medium lemon (optional)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt (optional) (skip if making for babies)
Instructions
How to deseed pomegranate
- Rinse the pomegranates under running water. Angle a paring knife downward, close to the crown of the pomegranate and cut off across the crown to remove it. Cut off ¼ inch of the bottom, so the pomegranate can sit stable on the counter.
- Make a shallow cut on the skin and divide each pomegranate to 4 segments/sections. Pry open the segments to separate them.
- Method 1 – Nudge out the arils with your fingers, discarding any pale membrane. Have a bowl ready to hold the loosened arils while you work on each segment.
- Method 2 – Alternately you may immerse one segment at a time in a large bowl of dechlorinated/clean water and remove the pomegranate arils under the water. Once you are done with all the segments, drain the water and remove any rinds.
How to make Pomegranate Juice
- Add the seeds to a blender jar along with salt. Squeeze the lemon juice (optional) into the blender.
- Pulse a few times, briefly for 10 to 15 seconds, you want to make sure the seeds are still mostly intact but the juice around the seeds is released. Crushing the seeds will make the juice gritty. [But the seeds have medicinal values so we always crush them and pass through a very fine strainer. so it is up to you]
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and transfer the juice. It is important to use a fine strainer or a thin cheese cloth if you do not want the juice to be gritty.
- Press the pulp against the strainer with the back of a spoon to squeeze out every bit of fresh juice.
- Drink your pomegranate juice immediately as is, store in the refrigerator for later culinary uses, or dilute with seltzer water to stretch the juice further. If it is too strong for your taste, you may mix it with other fruit juices or plain water.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
Iโm Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโs Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Good
Easy way to remove pomegranate seeds. Cut in half and place seed face down in one hand and whap the back of the pomegranate and seeds fall out in hand. Use a large bowl to collect the seeds:)
Thank you for the tips. I used your other method from the pomegranate molasses post and later strained the juice in a muslin cloth. My baby now loves the juice. He is enjoying it for 3 days now.
Glad that helped Shewta. Thank you for letting me know!
I made pomegranate juice for my 9 month old baby. I strained it and it is gritty so he coughs. I also tried straining through a cloth but the juice cant go through it. How can I make a more smoother clear juice. Please help
Hi Shewta,
Wrap the pomegranate seeds in a clean cheese cloth and crush the seeds gently with a rolling pin or hit them gently so break down. Squeeze the seeds to release the juices to a bowl. If you canโt do that add them to a wide bowl and crush with a muddler or with the base of a glass. Strain the juice. The other option is to use a potato ricer. Hope this helps
Delicious and inspiring. We have a pomegranate tree in our backyard. This year its started to yield many. Everyone should make this juice.
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Welcome Sanaya
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