Cooking with Pomegranates

While you may have seen the large red orb sitting on the supermarket shelf, you might have never investigated what exactly you can do with a pomegranate. The fruit’s heritage is intertwined with Mediterranean culture and was cultivated quickly and dispersed throughout much of Eurasia for centuries. Thankfully this stunning shrub has made its way to Australia and proven its hardy nature throughout many of the Aussie ecosystems.

You may have planted a pomegranate in your backyard for the highly ornamental flowers, yet with flowers come fruit! Once your fruit is ripe, what do you do with it? Here’s our suggestions for cooking with pomegranates, and no, we aren’t going to say salad!

Pomegranate Molasses

Pomegranate Molasses is an ancient ingredient for many cultures, and it’s the second step after making your pomegranate juice for use in cooking or cocktail making. And even better, the steps are simple:

  1. Blend your pomegranate arils until soft, and then strain through a fine strainer to remove the white seeds from the aril.
  2. Combine the juice (about 4-5 cups) with ½ a cup of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a saucepan.
  3. Simmer for an hour or until the mixture is a syrup consistency. Add more sugar to the recipe if you require sweeter molasses.

From here, the possibilities of using this molasses are endless!

Original recipe from:

Bauer, E 2021, Homemade Pomegranate Molasses, accessed 07/10/2022, https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pomegranate_molasses/.

Pomegranate and Chicken Stew

Have a bountiful crop of Midnight Velvet™ and Red Velvet™ pomegranates? Why not use this for a pomegranate and chicken stew! This recipe uses raw arils, pomegranate juice, and pomegranate molasses – AKA, the full trifecta. Here’s how to make it:

  1. Season 1 whole chicken with salt, pepper and paprika, and brown in a casserole dish. Remove the chicken and set aside.
  2. Finely slice 2 onions, 4 garlic cloves, 1 chilli, and a handful of coriander.
  3. Cook the onions slowly in the dish until soft, and then add the garlic, chilli, and coriander for 5 minutes.
  4. Stir in 300ml of tomato passata, 4 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses, and 200ml of pomegranate juice. Bring to the boil.
  5. Place chicken back in the pan, cover and lower the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.
  6. Remove when the chicken has cooked, and the sauce has thickened.
  7. Enjoy with pomegranate seeds over the chicken and sauce!

Original recipe from:

Harris, A 2022, Pomegranate & Chicken Stew, accessed 07/10/2022, https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/pomegranate-chicken-stew/.

Easy Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Bites

Who has time for juicing and standing over a pot of pomegranate-molasses-to-be? If you don’t, there’s still ways to enjoy your pomegranates, and it’s still not salad – it’s with chocolate!

This super simple recipe uses only the pomegranate arils, so there’s hardly any work involved. The steps are:

  1. Place a layer of pomegranate seeds in muffin tins.
  2. Pour melted chocolate over the pomegranate seeds.
  3. Place another layer of pomegranates over the chocolate.
  4. Rinse and repeat until your muffin tins are full!
  5. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the bites.
  6. Refrigerate until solid, and enjoy!

Original recipe from:

Wilson, E 2016, Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Bites, accessed 07/10/2022, https://thishealthytable.com/blog/pomegranate-dark-chocolate-bites/#mv-creation-32-jtr.

Where can I get my hands on pomegranates?

The best way to enjoy pomegranates is to grow them yourselves, and you can order online from PlantNet®. The Midnight Velvet™ and Red Velvet™ are exclusive to PlantNet® – no one else in Australia has purple skinned pomegranates thar are also edible! Our Red Velvet™ has fruit that can get to 2x larger than popular variety, Pomegranate Wonderful. You don’t get much better than that.

Enjoy our easy to grow pomegranates from the comfort of your home, today!

Other Useful Links

Pomegranate Health Benefits

Backyard Boosters™ Range

Check out our new pomegranate range.

References

Bauer, E 2021, Homemade Pomegranate Molasses, accessed 07/10/2022, https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pomegranate_molasses/.

Harris, A 2022, Pomegranate & Chicken Stew, accessed 07/10/2022, https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/pomegranate-chicken-stew/.

Wilson, E 2016, Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Bites, accessed 07/10/2022, https://thishealthytable.com/blog/pomegranate-dark-chocolate-bites/#mv-creation-32-jtr.