Sorry I’ve been MIA the past few days, if you haven’t been following me on twitter or facebook, then you probably didn’t know that I just spent the past few days on an amazing trip to POM, the leader in farming pomegranates in the US, with over 18,000 acres in the heart of Fresno. It’s Pomegranate season, and Pom Wonderful invited me and small group of wonderful bloggers to experience their POM Harvest Tour.
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| Pictured here, from top left to right, Brad Paris, GM and VP of Global Produce, Olga from Mango and Tomato, Yujin from The Patio Yujin, Paula from Bellalimento, Nicole from PinchMySalt, Mary from Deep South Dish, Rosa from Naver.com, Liren from Kitchen Confidante, second row that’s me, then Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers, Andrea, our fabulous host from POM and Rachael from La Fujimama |
What an amazing experience! Day one of the tour we visited Pom headquarters and saw first hand how the pomegranates are carefully selected to meet POM standards. We also saw the process of what went into making POM juices and teas, extracting the juice from the pomegranates, blowing and silk screening the bottles, bottling and packaging.
We ate and drank pomegranates all day, and later that evening we were treated to a special dinner prepared just for us. I had a warm spinach salad with goat cheese, pancetta and pomegranate seeds, a petit filet cooked to perfection topped with blue cheese in a pomegranate reduction, and for dessert we had pomegranate créme brulee. (I know, extra exercise this week!!)
Day two was the highlight of our tour. We got to eat lots of pomegranates, fly in corporate jets to view the 18,000 acres of pomegranate, pistachio and almond fields, then hand pick our very own pomegranates, almonds and pistacios to take home.
While there, I saw several demonstrations on how to open a pomegranate and I couldn’t wait to try their technique myself. So today, my family eagerly awaited for me to open one up so we can all dig in and enjoy the delicious arils. If you’ve always wanted to try a pomegranate but didn’t know how to eat one, follow these simple steps, just don’t make the mistake I made and wear white while doing this!
How To Open A Pomegranate
Step One
Score around the top of the pomegranate. You don’t have to cut all the way through, only through the skin.
Step Two
Remove the top. This easily comes right off.
Step Three
Once you remove the top you will see sections of the pomegranate divided by white membrane, score along those edges and the pomegranate will open up like a flower and all the arils will easily come out.
Step Four
Enjoy!!
