There’s no fruit quite like pomegranate. These tiny jewels are packed with flavour and juice that works well in sweet treats and savoury dishes. The problem is it can be quite a faff removing the seeds. So, can you bulk prepare them?
Can You Freeze Pomegranate Seeds?
Yes, you can freeze pomegranate seeds for up to 6 months. To freeze pomegranate seeds, you should pop the seeds out of the pomegranate, flash freeze and then bag them up to store in the freezer for the longer term.
Do Do Pomegranate Seeds freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Pomegranate Seeds? No
How to Freeze Pomegranate Seeds
Before you do anything, you need to pop those seeds out of the pomegranate. This can get a bit messy so be careful.
You can either pull apart a ripe pomegranate and carefully push the seeds from the main shell or whack the back of the pomegranate with a rolling pin to pop the seeds out.
Right, now you’ve got a bowl of fresh and juicy pomegranate seeds sitting in front of you, you’ll now want to know how to go about freezing them:
- Prepare a Baking Tray: Take a baking tray and line it with greaseproof paper. This should prevent the seeds from sticking.
- Lay Seeds Onto Tray: Tip the seeds onto the tray and give them a shake to keep them in a single layer. Ideally, none of the seeds will be touching any other seeds, but this tends to be impossible so just make sure they’re in a single layer.
- Freeze: Place the tray in the freezer for a couple of hours to get the seeds flash frozen.
- Bag Up: Once frozen, you can remove the tray and tip the seeds into a bag for better storage. You may get a little clumping, but this will be unavoidable.
- Final Freeze: All you need to do is label the bag and place it in the freezer.
Yes, pomegranate arils is just another name for pomegranate seeds. Freeze the arils on a baking tray, once solid, portion them out into a freezer bag, seal and return them to the freezer.
How to Freeze Pomegranate Whole
So you now know that you can freeze pomegranate seeds. But you’re left sitting there wondering: Can you freeze pomegranate whole?
Technically it’s possible, but there simply is no point. It’s also why we highly recommend NOT freezing avocados whole. You’re only going to create more work for yourself and freezing it whole can also ruin the texture.
If you freeze pomegranate whole, you’ll have to wait for the whole thing to thaw before removing the seeds. If you have the seeds ready and prepared in the freezer, they’ll be ready to use much quicker.
Ultimately, the seeds are the only part of the pomegranate you’ll ever need to use. By freezing just the pomegranate seeds, you’ll free up space and save yourself time in the longer run.
3 Tips for Freezing Pomegranate Seeds
Now you know how to freeze them, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing pomegranate seeds to have the best results:
Freeze On a Tray First
By freezing them spread out on a tray, when you finally freeze them in a bag there’s less risk of them all clumping together. This is particularly useful if you only need a small spoonful of seeds.
Bag Into Portions
If you plan on using pomegranate seeds in fruit salads or for breakfast, ensure you freeze the pomegranate seeds into suitably sized bags, so you know that one bag is one portion.
Try Mixing With Other Fruit
You can freeze your pomegranate seeds with other fruit pieces. Other berries freeze particularly well including blueberries, blackberries and cherries.
How Long Can You Freeze Pomegranate Seeds?
As with most fruits, if you left your pomegranate seeds in the freezer for years, they’d still be safe to eat. However, after 6 months, their flavour will begin to degrade, and you’ll lose their distinct and juicy flavour.
That’s why we would recommend consuming them within 6 months.
As always, you must label your frozen items with the date they should be consumed to reduce the risk of your wasting them in a few months.
When kept in a covered dish or container, pomegranate seeds will last for between 4 and 5 days in the fridge.
How Do You Defrost Pomegranate Seeds?
The good news is that you don’t need to wait too long for your pomegranate seeds to defrost. You just need to take them out of the freezer, place them in a bowl and leave them on your worktop for a few hours.
If you want to speed this up a little, then fill your sink with warm water, tip your pomegranate seeds into a bowl, and place this in the water. This should thaw the seeds quicker.
Just make sure you don’t fill your bowl with water!
Can You Refreeze Pomegranate Seeds?
Although safe, refreezing pomegranate seeds is not something we would recommend. Refreezing pomegranate seeds can lead to a huge change in texture.
Instead of popping with sourness, you’ll be left with mushy seeds that no longer possess that characteristic crunch.
Do Pomegranate Seeds Freeze Well?
The good news is that pomegranate seeds do freeze particularly well.
Provided that you follow our instructions for flash freezing you’ll be hard pushed to tell the difference between fresh and frozen seeds and you’ll be able to successfully store pomegranate seeds in the freezer.
Related FAQs
If youāve still got questions about freezing pomegranate seeds or pomegranate in general, then these may help:
Yes, pomegranate juice can be frozen in small Tupperware containers or into ice cubes using an ice cube tray depending on the quantities you wish to freeze.
Yes, frozen pomegranate seeds are just as good as fresh seeds. As long as you get them frozen quickly, they’ll still be packed full of nutrients, and you’ll struggle to tell the difference between fresh and frozen.
Yes! You can eat frozen pomegranate seeds straight from the freezer without thawing them. They’ll taste like little smoothie bites.
Can you vacuum pack and then freeze pomegranate seeds?
This should work well. Anything that can be done to remove air when storing will help them freeze well.