Juicing Pomegranates

[Bmi48219]

Anyone else engaged in this rewarding and time consuming pastime? I just finished this season’s batch last night.
My wife really likes pomegranate juice; to the point I purchased a press for her several years ago. I researched the presses, buying a steel one that resembles a bottle capper. Wife and I have a deal, she washes them and I press the juice out. We freeze twelve jars a year & consume one each month.
I’ve found rolling the whole fruit on a hard surface (as you’d do with a lemon) increases the yield some. No matter, there’s always some berries in each fruit that don’t get squeezed. Much as I enjoy the juice, nibbling on the left over berries to extract the remaining juice isn’t worth the effort to me.
Has anyone found an easier method ? I think if the anvil on our press was more of a mirror image of the press cone it wound be more effective.
Unfortunately I can’t get a photo to upload now.

[TyGuy]

I love pomegranates but have never juiced them myself. It was always a late fall treat in our house. My mom would bring one or two home and we’d spend hours picking them apart and nibbling the seeds. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I ever even knew that you could buy the juice. Do you guys grow your own?

[Bmi48219]

Sadly, no we don’t grow them. In November they show up in the local food stores. Anywhere from $2 to $5 each. Aldi’s had them for $1.50 last week. I load up on them.
I think a lot of them are from California. Bad thing is I have to read up on how to select them every year. They are good.

[Baja_Traveler]

My mom has a big tree and juices gallons of pomegranate juice every year to make jelly. We also combine the juice with the juice from my Mulberry tree to make an outstanding jam. It's a labor intensive process to separate the arils from the pith, but it makes a huge difference in the final product. If you use a citrus press, and just cut the pomegranate in half and press you get the pith and rind adding bitter components to the juice due to over extraction. Take the time to seed them, then look up an Omega VRT 330 juicer (check out youtube reviews). Game changer compared to the alternatives.

[Bmi48219]

The rind doesn’t make it through the holes in lower anvil. If the pith is the white-ish membrane between the arils, it doesn’t either. But around 10% of the seed-juice pods don’t get broken or fully un-juiced. I end up digging out those and the wife consumes them. Doe the VRT 330 crush the seeds or separate them?

[JimB..]

Can you run them through a food mill then strain with cheese cloth? I never thought to juice the ones in the store, is it any better than “Pom”?

[Bmi48219]

I’ve only tried Pom once, comparatively I’d say the fresh squeezed is not as sweet or watery. Sort of like the difference between cider mill apple cider and the pasteurized grocery store apple cider.
I think Baja-Traveler’s point about separating the pith and seeds from the juice is the way to go. Straining the fresh pressed juice is another good idea.

[dale2242]

Has anyone tried a steam juicer on poms?
they work great for extracting the juice from berries and other fruits.

[country gent]

Prep may make a difference. You might try a coarse grind with a meat grinder instead of rolling and cutting up. I worked in a food planr and the produce went from sorting to weighing to hammer mills then heated to sterilize and the presses. the first set got most o the juice then the seconds got the rest. The pulp was so dry it would blow in breeze.

Breaking them down into smaller pieces may help your press.