Pomegranate Juice

What could be more refreshing than a glass of chilled home-made pomegranate juice?! The natural sweetness from these ripe red 'rubies' enhanced with a touch of sugar is definitely far superior than the store-bought ones. Home-made juice is always original, delicious & 100% pure.

Up until few years ago, deseeding pomegranate was quite a bit of a task for me! Though I like this fruit for its taste & nutritional values, I 've always dreaded the deseeding part of it. Wait a minute! Does that sound like you?!?! Well then, whether you care for this recipe or not, you must read on to learn the trick of 'how to deseed a pomegranate in less than two minutes!'

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 10 mins
Cook time - 10 mins
Serves - 2.5 - 3 cups juice

Ingredients
Pomegranate seeds - 4-5 cups
Lime juice - 2-3 tbsp (from 3/4th of a lime, and use the remaining 1/4th for garnishing)
Simple syrup - 1/8 cup of sugar & 1/8 cup of water
Water - 1/4 cup
Salt - a pinch
Star anise - 2 nos

Method
How to deseed a pomegranate:
Run your knife along the equator of the fruit and cut the pomegranate into 2 halves.

Take a big bowl, hold one half of the fruit in your palm with arils/seeds facing the bowl. Now, start whacking the top with a ladle/wooden spoon as if you are (and it helps if you really are!) mad at someone! Take out all your anger on that 'poor' fruit. For all you know, you might not get another chance like this to vent out your anger! But believe me, this whole experience of juicing a pomegranate is amazingly therapeutic! Don't be surprised if you have suddenly found your inner peace!

Run your fingers through the deseeded arils and remove pith, if any. Next step is to blend the arils with 1/4 cup of water until very smooth using a blender/food processor. Use a fine mesh sieve and strain the liquid into a clean bowl. Set aside.

Incase your pomegranate is on the tarter side, you might have to make simple syrup and add it to the juice to make it sweet. Though the ones I got were very ripe & sweet, I made simple syrup with just 1/8 cup of sugar. Adjust the quantity of sugar depending on the tartness/sweetness of your fruit.

How to make simple syrup

In a small saucepan, bring equal proportion of sugar (1/8 cup) & water (1/8 cup) to a boil. Add star anise and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved, for about 2-3 mins. Remove from heat and let the simple syrup cool completely.

Add lime juice, simple syrup (after fishing the star anise out of it) & salt to the pomegranate juice and give it a good mix. Serve chilled with a slice of lime as garnish and enjoy!