Pomegranate Jelly - Making This Delicious Preserve the Hard Way

Pomegranates - we love them. The sweet seeds are the best taste shy of fresh berries and each summer we watch our tree (or the neighbor's) for signs they are ripening. 

A Pomegranate is ready once the skin cracks and the berries are visible. Watch for birds, as they will tell you the fruit is ready by zoning in on the fruiting bush. 

Ripe Pomegranate Fruits

If the fruit is not protected by a cloth covering while it is waiting to ripen, a few flying creatures may just make off with the juicy seeds. Cheesecloth, old panty hose, or a slipcover of burlap may protect fruit from the bandit birds. 

I collected a few of these delectable fruits while visiting my aunt, recently, and I had it in my mind that I was going to turn them into jelly. Little did I know how much work this would entail. Getting to those seeds is time consuming! I was always assigned Pomegranate duty when I was a youngster. We used them in a special salad and in various other recipes when I was growing up. 

First, I had to crack open this crazy fruit to get to the tangy seeds. 

Peeling Pomegranates

My first order of business was to peel the dozens of seeds out of the shell of the Pomegranate itself. Mind you, I had eight or nine of these to work with. I thought I might have enough for a good batch of jam. 

Seeding Pomegranates for cooking and jelly

Considering I did not want to stain my hands with pink fruity colors I decided to just cut the fruit in half. The dilemma I faced was not doing this as soon as I brought these home. At this stage, the fruit is like old leather. If the fruit is peeled within a couple of days of picking, the covering is still soft and pliable. Imagine trying to cut through thin pieces of wood. I used a steak knife to slice the pomegranates in half, then painfully picked out the seeds and tissue that accompanies the juicy morsels. 

Once the fruit is opened, a red coloring indicates ripeness. I did have to discard three of my fruits as you can see in the image. They were not quite ready. A cracked skin is always indicative of a ripe pomegranate. Stick to this rule every time and always have a ripe Pom.

Extracting Juice from the Seeds

By the time I had peeled the six ripe fruits I had about 4 cups of seeds. The seeds were checked for peelings and off colored, shriveled portions and put into a sauce pan to simmer on a medium low setting. Once I heard a sizzling sound, I took a potato masher to the seeds and crushed the seeds a bit to release some of the juice contained inside. I repeated this over the course of about twenty minutes.

When the seeds were heated through I put the whole batch into a blender and ground everything to a thick puree.

Ecko Measuring Cups

I tried a couple of methods of separating the juice from the pulp. Once way was to leave a funnel in the top of the blender with a coffee filter in the cone area. The pulp just slid to the edge and over. This was too messy, I decided. I, then, took a cutting of cheesecloth and cut a square 10" by 10". I put the cloth into a strainer and set the strainer over a sauce pan. This allowed the juice to drip through the cloth into the recovery pan. To speed this up, carefully, twist the top corners together, capturing all of the pulp in the cloth and slowly squeeze the mash until the juice no longer runs out. Use care as the mash will be hot. Let it cool a bit before handling. These six pomegranates netted a little over 1 1/3 of a cup of juice.

Making Pomegranate Jelly
The recipe in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving requires 3 1/2 cups of juice for a batch of jelly. I did not have that many pomegranates. To do so would take at least twenty ripened fruits. The time for that project would be at least three hours from peeling to canning stage.

The Ball Blue Book of Preserving

Pomegranate Jelly Recipe

For this recipe and a general rule of thumb for fruit jelly using juice. Match the amount of juice to the same amount of sugar. The sugar often will gel if simmered long enough on a medium heat.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 C Pomegranate Juice
1 1/3 Sugar
1/2 Package of Instant Pectin (freezer jam package)

Simmer juice and sugar over medium heat until at a full rolling boil. Let boil about 7 minutes then add pectin. Stir well and let boil another 3 minutes. Pour into plastic container and use soon or freeze for up to six months. Makes: 1 cup of  jelly

My best advice for making this preserve?

# 1 - USE A JUICER!

The work of removing all those seeds is alleviated using one of these handy juice extractors. The pulp and mess are combined for easy disposal while the delicious juice drains out, clean, clear, and free of headaches!

Juice Extractor

And # 2?

Learn how to peel and deseed a pomegranate the right way! This video demonstrates an easy to process pomegranate. The fruit may also be peeled in a bowl of water for reduction of squirting, juicy seeds! Don't do this the hard way like I did!

Pomegranates are a delicious and cheery fruit in summertime heat. Our family used to have a great time eating them fresh, but even better time enjoying this wonderful preserve. Don't do this the hard way like I did. Take the time to do this right and either buy the juice already squeezed or juice it through an extractor. Enjoy!

Your comments or suggestions always welcome

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