You suppose to eat the seed.

Did you taste them?

Dave:

I'm with you but then all I've eaten is Wonderful. It is pretty tart. If I was in the right climate I'd try some that are sweeter, like Sweet or Eversweet. They also crack with the first fall rain, not good in OR. But they are drought tolerant and easy to grow. They also have beautiful foliage, flowers, and fruit. Those that like them enjoy digging out those little fruits. Sort of like eating a pummelo, one of my favorite citrus.

The Fruitnut

Yes: The seeds are the thing, not the rest of it. You definitely won't want to try rose hips, as those are full of nasty hairs as well as seeds.

(from another site)
1. Score 1 fresh pomegranate and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate underwater to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl.
It's a bit of work - about 5 minutes to clean one.
I make oatmeal/pomegranate cookies with them.

OK, this explains a lot.
So the seeds are the only thing of value in these critters.
This is really strange.
The juice is actually in the seeds.
Wow. this is backwards.
Dave

you got it all wrong guys! You call them arils!

And there are wonderful no-stain-on your shirt ways to shuck them:

Here's one way to do it: No stain way of shucking pomegranates

And here's my preferred method of doing it:
No Mess No Stain method of shucking pomegranate arils

And pomegranate seed hardness can range from almost seedless feeling to hard as stone. There is a strong varietal variations that you shouldn't be confined to what's available out ther. And here's the results of our latest taste test at an actual USDA germplams taste testing:

{{gwi:59621}}
By joereal at 2008-11-10

and the pics of the wonderful arils for you to enjoy:
Special thanks to Peruzan Dabdeh for these wonderful pictures taken during the Nove 8, 2008 Pomegranate Taste testing at Wolfskill Experimental Orchard, sponsored by USDA, a wise use of your taxpayer's money.
{{gwi:125684}}
By joereal at 2008-11-12

{{gwi:125685}}
By joereal at 2008-11-12

{{gwi:125686}}
By joereal at 2008-11-12

I didn't understand ANY of that! :-(
The link is broken and I also didn't see any pics
Dave

The link is working for me.
Olga

Okay, how about the link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: No Mess Shucking of Pomegranate Arils

olga, no offense. But it was not a valid link. It even had a comma in it.
Now the second one did work.

LOL, I wanted to say I can see pictures :)
Olga

Yeah, they're work to get at. But you don't have to net the tree for birds, or spray for pests, or worry about diseases. You can juice them with one of those big manual citrus compression juicers like they use in Mexico.

Once you get the hang of it, cleaning them is a piece of cake. I usually cut them across the middle (only skin deep though) and then pull the pomagranate apart (ending with the top part and the bottom part). from there, it is only a matter of taking the seeds out. Doing all of this in a bowl of water is a good idea too - to keep stains off of your clothes. Also, i don't know what your pomagranate looked like, but the ones we have here in the grocery stores are no good compared to the ones grown at home. I just had a couple from a friend's tree and they were the sweetest poms i have ever tasted. One was almost completely white and the other was almost completely black. Plus, who could resist the showy flowers in early summer?

{{gwi:125687}}

Pomegranates from the store are often lousy, that's why you grow your own. Growing them is great because as the picture shows, they are gorgeous and nothing else looks like them. They are very easy to grow, I just have to keep trimming mine! I have the hang of opening them without making a mess and I basically follow the instructions over a dinner plate (no water) with a rolled edge so arils and juice don't fly off edge. I also like to cut them in half and press the half into a low-tech countertop juicer, the kind that looks like a hat with a spout. That way you don't press so hard that you get too much astringency from seeds and membranes. Then I strain it off through a mesh colander. I crave fresh pomegranate juice, especially in hot weather unfortunately (when they usually aren't ripe!). Thanks Joe and Central Cali for posting those great photos and taste-test data.

Joereal, thank you for sharing your WONDERFUL chart of data and photos on these pomegranates. What a feast for the eyes (wish I could taste them).

Pushindirt can now select a cultivar with large arils, small, soft seeds and good flavor balance (Molla Nepes?) to correct his unfortunate first impression of this fabulous fruit!

Yes! Good information on this thread! I use the seeds in salads. Yummmy and they add such nice color to the salad as well!

Since this is my first year growing poms, I will see how much work it really is.
Now that I know what the heck is going on.
I am still convinced it is a lot of work. And the fact that none of the flesh is even remotely edible (at least the "wonderful" strain I tried).
It is a fairly large fruit for a mere pittance of juice.
Dave

Dave- How much work (and risk) it is is all relative. Persimmons, loquats, mulberries, figs, and jujubes are less work and at least as reliable. Apples, peaches, citrus, etc, I'm not so sure. V. Labrusca grapes have the best overall return where I'm at.

Joereal your link worked for me and that's how I cut them. score the top and bottom off like a cap or lid, then score the body like citrus segments. I eat them seeds and all.
I'm not sure what variety I have as I got them started from cutting and those poms were 50 + years old already but they are pink, not red.

Beauty is in the mouth of the beholder.

A fresh ripe one is well worth the effort to me. Like watermelon, I spit most of the seeds by the way.

If you do nothing but toss the arils around in your mouth and suck the juice it's worth it, pomegranates have lots of antioxidants.

pushindirt:
Pomegranates are similar to corn on the cob in that the edible part is encased in an inedible part, which requires a bit of work to remove. The edible parts of both plants are individual kernels that contain a juicy seed. Both have a lot of plant material that is inedible. The discarded pomegranate skin/pulp (I eat the seeds) and discarded corn parts are all fine compostables.

Some people say eating boiled blue crabs isn't worth the effort. Watch a Florida Cracker or Louisiana Cajun strip one clean in less than 30 seconds. It is about know how. Same way with pomegranates. You just have to know how for it to be easy. But then I have seen people turn down a sweet juicy orange because it had to many seeds.

What is life worth if one is in too big a hurry to slow down, relax, and enjoy eating a beautiful and delicious fruit? Can't think of a better way to spend a fall evening.

The other day I saw bags of fresh pomegranate seeds in the cooler at Trader Joe's.

Joe Real
Thank you for posting these pictures and the work you have done for this post!
That flower picture is nice too!
I haven't realized until now that there are soooo..many verities.

Have purchase two, about a month ago, herd these supposed to be good for you.
When eating them, have just put a bunch in my mouth and kind of chewed and sucked on the
seeds for a while then spit out, I liked them.

Are you supposed to swallow seeds too?

Konrad

Pomegranate seeds are edible, so you can swallow them, except for those varieties that are extremely hard seeded. For the soft seeded ones, I sometimes just swallow them without really chewing on them, my stomach can do the rest. There are varieties that so soft seeded that I would label them as seedless. And there are varieties whose seeds are as hard as stones and I spit those out.

One has to be careful on the medium hardness of the seeds. If you have gallstones, then don't swallow the seeds, it could compound the problem.

I've also recently seen 2-packs of tubs of pomegranate seeds at CostCo.

This is an important discussion. Many people who initially try a pomegranate are turned off to them because it seems like too much work to separate out all the edible arils. But really, if people knew the proper technique it's not so difficult. You can find youtube videos about the proper way to cut up a pomegranate.

Pomegranate also makes excellent fresh juice. I don't think people realize how good it can be, because it tastes so much better fresh squeezed than bought at the supermarket. I know that's true with any juice but it is extremely true with pomegranate. For the best tasting juice, separate out all the arils first and then press them. It is important to prepare the juice this way because both the inner white rind and the tiny hard seeds inside the edible arils can impart an off flavor to the juice.

For cutting open the pomegranate, make 5 cuts along the outer edge of the fruit, not too deep, then pry it apart. It should separate apart easily. Separate the arils from the rind under a bowl of water to avoid getting juice squirting out all over the place. With a little bit of practice, you can easily process a pomegranate and extract all the arils in less than a minute.

The mistake most people make is they try to cut all the way through the pomegranate. This makes a mess because it cuts through many of the arils, not to mention it only makes it harder to separate out the insides from the hard exterior.