How to cut and de-seed a pomegranate

Step 1: Buy a good quality pomegranate. 

When shopping for pomegranates, choose nice heavy ones with firm, unwrinkled skin, with no decaying or softened patches. If your pomegranate has soft patches then it might be old and there may be a larger number of discoloured, unusable seeds. 

BTW, if you want to take photos of your pomegranate, choose one with the crown intact (this is not necessary if you are just planning to eat it).

Step 2: Submerge the pomegranate in a bowl of water. 

The easy way to de-seed a pomegranate involves submerging it in water — this prevents everything from staining red (the juice squirts out if the seeds are removed too forcefully). Another benefit of using water: the seeds sink to the bottom while the white pith floats to the top, so it is easy to separate the seeds and skim off the pith. 

Step 3: Cut the lid off and cut into wedges. 

Tip: the skin is only 1-2mm thick so make your cuts very shallow so you don’t damage the seeds.

Using a sharp knife, cut the top off the pomegranate. You can do this in one long round cut about 2mm or 1⁄2cm (1⁄5in) deep, following the outer ridge at the top (refer to photo). Or you can make four cuts, like a square lid.

Lift the lid off the pomegranate and remove any seeds attached to the lid and place them in the water. 

Note the wedge formations inside the pomegranate caused by the white pith – they are like the segments in an orange. Now cut the skin into wedges, following the natural wedge lines — there will be about six wedges, depending on the size of your pomegranate (see photo). Be careful, you don't want to cut too deep and damage the seeds.

Step 4: Break the wedges apart and gently remove the seeds. 

Pull each wedge apart from one another. Then hold one wedge at a time and bend the skin back to make it easier to gently remove the seeds. Repeat the process until all of the seeds (the good ones) have been removed. Throw out as much pith as possible and let the rest float to the top.

Step 5: Scoop, sort and strain. 

Scoop out the floating pith (with a strainer or your hands) and discard any damaged, discoloured or whitish seeds, then strain the remaining seeds and drain well.

1 quality pomegranate yields approx. 1 1/4 cup of seeds, or more.