How to freeze pomegranates?

December 1, 2007 8:24 PM

I really love fresh pomegranates. Unfortunately, their short season ends soon. Is there any way to freeze them for later enjoyment? Or anywhere to get them while they're out of season?

I'd love to hear your experiences, or step by step instructions if anyone has them. I get all kinds of conflicting information on the internets.

posted by ac to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

This site has a method: http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/mod01/01600731.html

Various sources claim that pomegranates last for around a month in the refrigerator, so you've got almost until January at the least.
posted by dkleinst at 8:39 PM on December 1, 2007

pomegranates are the original food of desert journeys, and even when the skin gets nasty & leathery, the little red thingies inside stay nice & juicy for a surprisingly long time. so you could just try buying them in bulkish quantities when you find them, and letting them get hard.
posted by twistofrhyme at 10:08 PM on December 1, 2007

Pmegranates are best when they've sat and sat and sat, until the outsides are cracked and busting themselves open. In other words, they keep for a pretty long time.

I've also recently discovered that pomegranates make a GREAT waffle topping. They sit in the waffle cups quite nicely and are a good, sweet alternative to gobs of syrup. Not to say there's ANYTHING wrong with gobs of syrup.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:13 AM on December 2, 2007

Yeah, I must say, from my recent, first pomegranate experience of leaving it in my fridge for two weeks, and then opening it, and THEN leaving the seeds in a bowl in the fridge to be randomly munched for a week: they taste awesome, and actually better than when I first opened the thing.
posted by lunasol at 6:42 AM on December 2, 2007

I knew a chef with the same problem... he actually went down to Mexico and drove around for a week until he found one town with a pomegranate tree that gives fruit year-round.

Now he buys all their fruit in the off-season.
posted by Mr_Crazyhorse at 10:37 AM on December 2, 2007