Preserving a pomegranate

September 22, 2022 4:02 PM

I have two halves of fresh pomegranate that I would like to preserve for sentimental reasons. What are my options?

I was hoping to use resin but it sounds like it would rot and not set.

I don't have any special equipment, just a standard kitchen - no dehydrator, yes oven. I'm willing to throw maybe £30 at this.

Preserving only a small bit (a few seeds?) is OK.
"Not really doable" is also a valid answer, but any creative solutions are appreciated!

posted by Glier's Goetta to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: I have dried out whole pomegranates many times and I'm wondering if there is any real reason why you can't do it with a half. These directions are much more complicated than what I have done, namely to impale the pomegranates on a stick and hang them up. But maybe the rack method would work for yours?
posted by BibiRose at 4:12 PM on September 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: To ensure success of some kind, try a few different methods! Eg maybe dry one whole half, and then for the other half, separate the seeds to dry, and also dry the shell. The emptied shell will be almost a sure thing, just hang it up in a net bag.

You are right setting in resin is a bad idea, though you could coat the dried shell in any number of sealants if you'd like, it would be almost woody at that point. Drying the seeds can be done on paper towels with a fan, or in the oven on parchment paper on as low as you can set it, in multiple sessions of maybe 15-60 min.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:27 PM on September 22, 2022

If you’re open to preserving the sentiment and not just the physical fruit, set up a small white light box made of cardboard and take a photograph? You could get it printed and framed.
posted by cakebatter at 4:45 PM on September 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

You could can it either as fruit or in a jelly like say marmalade in a plain clear jar. You don't really need any sort of special equipment to do this; just a pot large enough to submerge the choosen jar completely in water.
posted by Mitheral at 5:19 PM on September 22, 2022

I encased an apple in resin ~10 years ago, and it looks about the same today as it did when I encased it. I think the heat from the resin curing effectively canned the apple.
posted by gregr at 6:20 PM on September 22, 2022

Plant the seeds.
posted by aniola at 6:21 PM on September 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: This page gives instructions for making a dried pomegranate slice suncatcher or tree ornament. Basically you make slices, dehydrate them on parchment paper, then coat with modpodge and let set before taking it off the paper. I suspect you could dry your halves but it would just take a very long time and you should use a dehydrator rather than hanging up in regular room temperature, just so rot doesn’t set it before it’s dried. Then coat with shellac or a clear drying glue of some form. At that point you could definitely put it in resin and be pretty confident no arils will fall out in the process, and do fun stuff like mix glitter into the resin whatever. But with a couple coats of shellac it should be okay to put on display. Maybe if you are very concerned about it staying intact you could decorate a plain box with pomegranate themed paper and store it inside.
posted by Mizu at 12:44 AM on September 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone for the variety of solutions to play around with! I've now got some dried slices, a half husk, AND a bunch of seeds, and they all look great. A low oven for a few hours worked a treat and I'll be sealing them soon.
posted by Glier's Goetta at 5:46 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]