Fresh Crushed Pomegranate Juice! Use a Manual Juicer.

There it sat in my lonely fruit bowl. A beautiful bright crimson-pink pomegranate. It had been sitting there for a week, watching the other fruit, bananas, kiwis, apples, mandarins and papayas come and go. “But plucking pomegranates is such a pain!” I protested. There are over 600 seeds in one fruit. But the poor pom was starting to wrinkle, so it was now or never. What I really craved was the juice. I could pluck and crunch each chewy seed or I could think of a solution to my pesky pomegranate problem. No seeds for me! I grabbed the pomegranate. Sliced it in half and here’s what I did to retrieve the “fresh crushed” pomegranate juice…

*My Fave Holiday Bevie* Fresh pomegranate juice + extra dry prosecco = PomSecco! yum.

Two Juicer Household. There are some things you love so much, you need two of them. Two cars, two computers, two cameras, two televisions, two pairs of slippers. Me, I have two juicers. I love them both, and they are each used for different juicing purposes. Juicer #1 is my SuperAngel, which I use for juicing anything from apples and ginger to pineapple and wheatgrass. However, if I’m going for straight up citrus juice, I go with juicer #2 the Orange X. However, I recently discovered that I could actually ‘juice’ or ‘crush’ pomegranates fairly effectively using my Orange X juicer. I had never tasted truly fresh-crushed pomegranate juice before, and it blew me away. I was hooked. I went out and bought four more pomegranates at Whole Foods the next day.

Note: It’s true, the Orange X was not specifically intended for use as a pomegranate crusher. Hence the name, Orange X. So attempt this at your own risk. But I personally find the results delicious and there seems to be no harm done to my sturdy professional grade Orange X juicer. And upon researching, I found other people who have ‘crushed pomegranates’ in their Orange X juicer before – so I’m not alone.

Why Pomegranate Juice? You may have heard the hype about pomegranate juice. And while it certainly isn’t a ‘cure’ for anything, it does appear to improve the health of your body. Pomegranate juice is an excellent source of potassium, vitamin K and is particularly high in three types of polyphenols (antioxidants): tannins, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid. Studies have shown that pomegranate juice may be effective in promoting prostate and cardiovascular wellness. “There are studies that show pomegranate juice has anti-oxidants that help to protect blood lipids from oxidation and pomegranate will help to prevent plaque build up in your arteries. This means that adding pomegranate juice to you diet may help to keep your arteries healthy.”– About.com, Medical Board reviewed. You can find more than a handful of credible studies from NIH and more on MedPub.gov.

Now onto the How-to of crushing a pomegranate…

How-to “Fresh Crush” a Pomegranate:

Starter Tips:
* Smaller pomegranates fit the Orange X juicer better.
* Juice when ripe, never juice a ‘harder’ under-ripe pomegranate.
* Drink right away or store in an airtight container in fridge for up to a few days.

Grab your OrangeX or other brand citrus-crushing manual juicer:

Slice the pomegranate in half:

Set one half of the pomegranate as you would an orange, in the juicer:

Crush it! Yes, this will require a tad more power than it may take you to crush an orange. Do not force the juicer though! Do a few light pumps of the handle and you may need to twist the pomegranate around once or twice to get all the seeds. Larger pomegranates may not allow the handle to completely close-down: