Pomegranate Smacking: Not An Olympic Sport, Yet

Today was the second annual “Jew Help A Christian Day”, i.e. the second consecutive Christmas Eve I’ve driven across town to spend a few hours helping my friend Jen get ready for her big family dinner. (Last year’s recap is HERE.) I had a BLAST, which is something I don’t normally say when I’m cleaning and cooking in my own house. Something to work on.

Anyway, last week I asked Jen what was on the menu for this year and it came up in conversation that, among other things, she was going to have me remove seeds from a pomegranate.

I was clueless about the task: to be honest, I’ve never bought an actual pomegranate from the produce department before. My experience with pomegranates is usually restricted to flavored waters (and, a couple of weeks ago in San Diego, I immensely enjoyed a pomegranate margarita).

I asked Jen how one removes seeds from a pomegranate and she laughed, saying that she didn’t want to tell me because then I wouldn’t want to come over.

Being the kind of person who enjoys having control over things, I did an internet search a couple of days ago to see what I was in for. Apparently the traditional way of removing pomegranate seeds involves lots of time and a huge mess. Luckily, I came across something on Lifehacker that looked worthwhile: it was a video of a guy who removed the pomegranate seeds in seconds by merely smacking the back of each half with a wooden spoon. I was pretty darn excited to have found this little jewel on the internet, and drove to Jen’s with a big wooden spoon in my hand and a dream in my heart. Well, you know. I hoped it would work.

As I made my way down the list of things I was preparing in the kitchen, I noticed that there was nothing about pomegranates on it and made Jen add it, so I could cross it off when I was done.

pomegranate smacking

Soon it was time to put the video on Lifehacker to the test. Jen and I both had to catch our chins before they fell to the ground when I beat the crud out of those pomegranates, causing all of the seeds to easily fall out into the bowl on the counter. It took about sixty seconds to empty the entire thing.

pomegranate seeds

I was impressed with how it went down, and I had never even done it the hard way: it was SO cool.

Want to check out the video? It’s HERE.

And for those of you asking if I’ll come and help you on Christmas Eve next year, I have to respectfully decline: I’ll be back at Jen’s!

One Comment